Born In Fire
by Syroc
Summary: The Reapers won, but Humanity survives. And one day, a young man leaves the safety of his Vault and discovers the wasteland that the galaxy has become.
1. Prologue

**Born In Fire**

_Prologue_

_ This Is How It All Ends  
_

* * *

_" ... Why must the show go on?  
It can't be all that indispensable.  
To me, it really isn't sensible on the whole,  
To play a leading role..."_

* * *

Life had been good, I reflected to my own quiet shame, back in the vault.

It's not really something you appreciate until long after you'd left it behind. I mean, three square meals a day and all the water you can drink, the kind of security that only complete secrecy and five feet of solid metal can supply and, last but not least, the adoration of my peers weren't something I really thought about until I'd ventured Outside with my friends all those...

With a heavy effort I turned my head to my pip-boy.

Huh.

All those...three months ago.

Seemed longer somehow.

Yes, life had been pretty good.

I closed my eyes and drew a ragged breath, trying to ignore the twisting knives in my skull that were threatening ti overwhelm me with every passing moment. The second it did, everything was over. Humanity. Earth. The galaxy. Life as we knew it.

Gone, in an instant.

This was our last stand.

_**SUBMIT.**_

No, I try to open my mouth to say, but the word sticks in my throat, and only silence issues forth.

Meh. Didn't matter. They'd get the message anyway.

You suck, I added mentally. Let them have that as well.

Life wasn't so great anymore.

My meals had been reduced to whatever I could salvage or whatever I could force myself to not think too hard about and all the dirty water I could stomach. Every day broght wth it some fresh horror or threat, something new to dread. And while I had the respect of some, was even looked up to by others, it was a far cry from adoration. (Not that I was bothered much by that. I would have felt dirty about it if they did: there was nothing glamorous about me anymore.)

And to top it all off, I probably wasn't going to survive this.

**_YOUR TIME IS OVER._**

Stop copying me.

I know it sucks, but I'm still here. Goddam space-Cthulhus.

**_THIS WAR WAS OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO._**

War? Didn't both sides have to have a chance of winning for it to be a war? Slaughter was a better word.

_**SUBMIT.**_

Talk to a Reaper for any length of time, and you really began to understand that the machine was wearing the daddy pants in its unholy union of organic and synthetic. It's either "give up", "this is for your own good", "we are _so _much better than you", or (my personal favourite,) "let us eat your tasty man-flesh".

**_WE ARE YOUR SALVATION._**

See? All four at once. Can't be all that much better than us.

To demonstrate, I focussed. I let myself drift into the Crucible, let it fill my eyes with illusions tha were truer than anything I had ever known. Below me, the floor vanishes into darkness, replaced by a broken globe made from thousands upon thousands of tiny lights, surrounded by distant stars. Those tiny lights were clustered together in places, forming great, radiant patches interconnected by thinner, dimmer strands like gleaming spider thread. I looked for familiar shapes, but there either wasn't enough or too much for me to see.

Above me, I see the sun in the night sky, a blinding circle of poisonous light surrounded by stars. It hurt me to look upon it, more than I was hurting before, but I did so all the same.

With a herculean effort I lifted a hand to it. I put my thumb and forefinger just on the bottom and top of that vile light, like I was holding in between them.

"Squish," I managed to whisper, and brought my fingers together slowly. It was a lot harder to do than you might imagine.

The evil sun flared bright for just a moment, and then died.

I let my hand fall with an exhausted sigh, and drew myself back from the Crucible. I was returned to the world of flesh and metal and lies so true they were never questioned.

Peace and quiet were mine again for a time.

I wonder what DJ Squidhead would have to say about that, her Shepherd of the Wastes laying down on the job. But then I remember that I don't care what she thinks. Allegedly.

So I busied myself thinking of other things.

I thought of Palaven, a victim of its own hubris. The greatest military force in the galaxy, brought low from distrust and resent.

I thought of Rannoch, the final resting place of thd Quarian people. Or what should have been, in a kinder universe.

I thought of Thessia, and the great sadness left there by the destruction of the Asari. A civilization of peace, wiped clean of history by the whims of monsters.

I thought of the many failures of the past, a hundred tiny flaws coalescing into calamity. I knew it wasn't their fault. How could it be? Nobody could have prepared for something like the Reapers. The best they could do was set the stage for someone else to finshe the work. They had made their Crucible, after all, just on the off chance that someone likeme could use it.

It would have nice if they'd _completed _the damn thing, of course, but I understand that there were distractions. End of times, and all that.

Still, even though it was sure to kill me, even though my last hours would be filled with a torture for which there are no words, I didn't regret leaving that life behind. I'd have just gotten old and fat, and that would have been a travesty.

_**YOU CANNOT WIN.**_

Ah, there they were again. Like sharks sensing blood in the water, they were coming for me.

No, I couldn't beat them. I stood alone against them, and I was already dying.

But I could make their final victory a dear one. I could show them an _ounce_ of our suffering.

As I submerge myself once more into the Crucible, I allow myself to think of better times. Simpler times, with adventure and wonder and friends and laughter.

I thought back to the beginning, and that fateful night.

* * *

**AN: **Whew, that was a bugger to write! Fun fact: it is really annoying to type on a psvita. I regretted my foolishness halfway through this.

As you might have gathered, this story is different from the others I've submitted in this section. Here, we're aligning the timelines a little more closely, ony except US/China war the ME plot happened... kinda. You should be able to see what was different next chapter.

Anyways, not much else to say, other than that I'm not sure when I can really get started on this, as I'm kinda walking the world atm. I'll try to have something out next week, provided I can find something better to write with. (And that I have internet.) Pen and paper would be vastly preferable to this, really, were it not for my horrendous penmanship.

Lastly...

**The prologue is not the end of the story. And even if it was, then it still isn't the important part.** Honestly, hasn't anyone heard the saying "it's not the destination that matters, but how you get there"? Don't you ever wonder _why_ things happen the way they happen?

Remember to review, and all that junk!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights or what-have-ye for either the Mass Effect or the Fallout franchises. They belong to Bioware and Bethesda respectively, and my only involvement with either of these companies are my enjoyment of their work. Also the song at the beginning is "_Why Must The Show Go On?"_ by Noël Coward. I have received no pay for this, and unless something completely amazing happens I likely never will. So... yeah.


	2. I

**Born In Fire**

_Chapter I_

_This Is How It All Starts_

* * *

_"... __You've got to be taught from year to year,_

_It's got to be drummed into your dear little ear,_

_You've got to be carefully taught,_

_You've got to be taught to be afraid..."_

* * *

"So?" Kaidan whispered, neither as quietly nor as bravely as he thought. "Do you see anything?"

I squinted into the midnight darkness of an empty London street and, unsurprisingly, saw nothing. I told my friends as much.

"What?" Jenkins said with a note of complaint. "Nothing? Seriously?"

And, good friends though we were, that was all we needed to turn on each other. In our defense, we were teenagers.

"Dammit Jenkins, this was a dumb idea! I can't believe we skipped practice for this!"

"We should have gone earlier," I added with a grumble. As captain of the baseball team, my absence was going to be noticed. Trouble would be waiting for me when I got back. "Thing might have been better during the day."

Jenkins threw up his hands in a placating gesture, the effect somewhat ruined by the BB gun he was carrying. He had insisted that we come prepared. Unfortunately, nobody was about to give a bunch for adolescents real weapons. I had brought my bat, and Kaidan's parents had been teaching him the martial mnemonic arts since he'd started school, the lucky bastard. (_S__ome_ people had to learn on their own.)

"How was _I _supposed to know there'd be nothing on the other side?" he defended with a whine. "There's always a guard on the door, so I figured that there had to be something cool behind it."

Yes, because the only reason you'd want something's door is to make sure that nothing happened to all the cool things on the other side. Jenkins was a friend and a good teammate, but a great thinker he was not.

"And so you got me and Shepard involved on a _hunch?_" Kaidan hissed. "You idiot! Do you even know the kind of trouble we could get into if we're caught?! Not even Shepard would get out off it, and units mom's the overseer."

Oh god, he's _right! _My mom would _crucify_ me if knew kind out we had snuck Outside!

... shit, now I wanted to stay out even longer.

Jenkins and Kaidan continued to bicker between themselves, but I wasn't listening anymore. All I wanted to do now was go Outside and see what was left of the city. See how bad things were. Maybe, I reasoned with myself, I wouldn't be punished if I discovered that it was safe for us to come back. Maybe I'd find something of value to mitigate my crime. Or maybe there was nothing out there and I should go back inside now.

_Maybe maybe maybe, _an annoyingly logical part of my mind nagged. _If maybes were babies, infanticide would be legal._

As sad as it sounded, I couldn't really argue with myself. It didn't really matter what was out here if I just stood aro-

Wait, what was that?

"Quiet," I snapped at the two, silencing their argument. "I think I heard something."

The two put the bickering aside as all three of us pricked our ears to the sound of the wind moaning through the broken streets and ruined homes of London.

There it was again! I heard it clearly this time, the sounds carried by the wind: howls and gunfire, punctuated by screams. I couldn't tell whether they were of pain or something else, but given the context I was inclined to believe they were the former.

The three of us, my friends and I, exchanged a tense look and a wordless consensus, none of us worried about what would happen were we discovered. Some was in trouble, and each of us _knew _we could help. Even of it was just as a distraction while we ran away back to the vault.

I gripped my bar tightly, and despite the gravity of the situation I felt a surging eagerness welling up inside me as adrenaline, worry and thirst for adventure mixed into a potent cocktail.

I knew in my bones that this was going to be awesome.

* * *

This was horrible.

I didn't know what I had sheen expecting, but it certainly wasn't _this_. London, we'd been told, had been one of the greatest cities of the Old World. That people had said of it, "when you're tired of London, you're tired of life." That it had been the seat of power for an empire that had spanned the globe and defined its peoples. That it had been the heart of the resistance during our last days of glory. _  
_

London wasn't great anymore, though here and there we could see the bones of its former splendor.

In the distance I could see London Bridge, only its towers remaining. The bridge itself had been sundered, one half fallen into the Thames and the other become a road to nowhere. The towers themselves had not faired much better, I could tell, though they at least still proudly stood upright despite the grievous damage done to them. Somehow.

The London Eye had been toppled, the enormous carousel teetering dangerously over the river. How it Mahdi managed to not fall into the water was a mystery, though I doubted anyone would ever want to risk their life investigating it.

Big Ben was visible as a lone, leaning tower propped up up by what remained of the parliament building. I couldn't be certain, but I thought I could see lights flickering below it. But I would have to get closer to say for certain.

And further out to the North I could barely make out the remains of what had been the Systems Alliance headquarters as a narrow pillar of white, illuminated somehow from below.

All this I could see at once, as almost the entirety of the city south of the river had been leveled to the ground. Hardly anything remained that was taller than me, and what little there was was few and far between. The three of us had emerged from the basement of what must have been a large building a hundred years ago, but was now only rubble. It had, in fact, taken the combined efforts of all our biotic abilities to grant us freedom. For whhas seemed like a long time we could only stare at the devestation all around us.

But that wasn't the worst of it all. No, the worst were the skeletons. There had to be hundreds, no, _thousands_ of them scattered across the city like jacks. Some had been frozen into grim poses, their bones somehow fused together strong enough to weather the elements. Most just laid upon the ground, but a terrible few seemed to be locked in the middle of some action. Screaming, covering their eyes, or even pointing to something that no longer existed.

But they were all to a one blackened by ancient fires. It was a grim reminder that our last assault against the Reapers had not been with soldiers or some ancient weapon, but with nuclear fire. Every nation across the world had launched the entirety of its arsenals against the Reapers, and though most had been shot out of the sky enough had detonated make the life of any survivors not in a vault very painful and very brief.

Even now our pipboys would occasionally begin_ click-click-clicking _away as our Geiger-counters warned us of the danger.

Still, despite our disquieted spirits and pour mounting apprehension we stole through the ruins of London as quietly as we could manage. (Which wasn't very quiet at all, really.) The eerie silence, broken only by the growing noise of conflict, was putting us all on edge

As we drew closer, we heard things clearer. And it very soon became clear to us that the person screaming, a woman to my ear, was definitely _no_t in pain. Or, if she was, it was vastly outweighed by fury.

"Fuck you!" she roared at her assailants. A sound that I could only describe as _"p-chew!"_ quickly followed. Whatever battle was going on, it didn't seem to be one-sided.

I cast a furtive glance to my friends as into drew close enough to hear the sounds of fighting grow intense enough that we could pick out unique howls and low moans and the woman's vile tantrum of expletives. It was obvious that the fighting was far more intense than any of us could have guessed, and I was beginning to have doubts.

Not in myself, of course. I had been the captain of our section's baseball team ever since I'd entered high school, and it wasn't because of my excellent penmanship and consistently good grades in science class. I was confident that with a bat in my hands I would be able to fend for myself. A bat, after all, is a fearsome weapon in the hands of someone who knew how to use one. It is, essentially, a very long cudgel made to hit something very small moving very fast. Imagine what it could do to a much bigger target moving much slower. Like, say, someone's head.

I wasn't too worried about Kaidan either. Martial mnemonics were no joke, as anyone who'd been hit with biotics augmented punch could attest to. Biotic barriers, shields or heavy armor were necessary to survive such a blow, and sometimes could still result in broken bones. And Kaidan had been practicing for years as an after-school activity.

It was Jenkins that worried me. He was younger than Kaidan and I by a year, but more than that in maturity. Worse still, his "weapon" was a toy, at best something to practice with until he got a real gun. The only thing he could be able to do with it was annoy someone, or use it as a club. Neither outcome appealed to me.

Jenkins seemed tagave realized the same thing, if the way he was nervously pumping the BB gun and casting scared looks anout was any indication.

"Jenkins," I whispered to him. "Stay with Kaidan. He'll keep you safe."

Jenkins gave me a grateful smile, and sidled up next to Kaidan with an embarrassed expression. Kaidan, for his part, merely nodded with understanding and acceptance at the task. He would likely have done it anyway, but I could tell that he would be grateful to hold back and provide support. I would just have to hope that I was up to the task of keeping the attention of whatever was over there solely on me.

I gestured for the two of them to hold back for a moment, intent on sizing up the situation for myself before committing to anything.

I hunched down low and trotted up the road toward the source of all the noise, gripping my bat hard with tension. It hit me only now that I had no idea what I was getting into, or even whether I would know what was going on. What if that angry woman was the aggressor? What if she had brought this down upon herself? What if-

I decided to stop confusing myself and instead see for myself. The battle was just around the corner, I could tell, and it would only take a moment to see for myself what was going on.

I approached the crumbling remains of a wall and hugged close to it, breathing heavily withbtension and excitement. (Because as terrifying as this was, it was a damn sight more exciting than baseball.)

I poked my head around the corner, and quickly wished I hadn't.

There was a horde of husks on the other side of the ruin, and they were all trying to climb atop an ancient, rusting tank to get at a woman that was either wearing the heaviest armor I had ever seen or had the incredible misfortune of being born as half a fridge. She was firing neon green streaks of something at them, which had been the source of the strange_ p-choo_ sound. Each husk that was hit by those green bolts detonated into a red mist of superheated blood and seared meat, if not rendered to a disgusting pile of glowing goo.

"Fuck you!" she screamed, firing into the howling mass below her. "Fuck you, fuck you and you and you and fuck the _fuck_ out of _you!_"

Each curse came with a blast of green except the last, which instead said as she stomped down hard on a husk that had just about managed to scale the tank.

It was a horrifying sight, though if I were honest with myself I was more afraid of just the husks than I was of what was happening to them. they were the stuff of nightmares for everyone who had lived in a vault, because everyone was required to learn about them. It was something of a joke, really: we learned about the servants of the Reapers just around the same time we learned about puberty. Learning about the monsters that had destroyed the galaxy and then showing us just why they were to be feared was _one_ way to keep us nice and afraid during that time of our lives.

I stared in mute horror as they clawed at and climbed atop one another to get at the woman, their mouths always open to howl and moan.

I tried desperately to recall what I had learned on those classes, but it now seemed so long ago, and I had done my best to forget what I _had_ learned.

Dimly, I recalled that they were only supposed to be dangerous in large numbers. A quick glance to the woman who was holding the whole swarm at bay with nothing but herself and foul language was all I needed to prove that a lie, even if nobody could pay me enough money to take her place. As if to emphasize this point she kicked another of them off the tank, and it landed in boneless heap only to be crushed beneath the others of its kind.

I felt a shiver run up my spine, the thought of attacking those... things chilling me to the bone. I drew my self back to relative safety, and opened my mouth to speak...

"Holy crap! _Husks!"_

... But Jenkins said it, or rather shouted it, much more succinctly than I could have.

With a sinking feeling in my gut I turned to my friends, and sure enough a troop of husks were shambling towards them with a rapid gait. Kaidan was already dropping into a stance, the air around him seeming to warp and twist with biotic distortions.

I would have gone to help them, had I not heard a howl just behind me. I whirls around, my heart hammering a thunderous tattoo in my chest, only to see something that made me scream with real terror. The horde was turning, their attention drawn by Jenkins dismayed cry. And they had seen _me._

One of them was almost on me, its too-thin arms reaching hungrily for me as as it howled for blood.

I whipped my bat at head height with fear-born strength, barely even registering it when I smashed in its temple, cracking its skill open like an egg. Bone, purple blood and something else went flying and the husk dropped to the ground, instantly killed.

"Bwuh?" I grunted dumbly as I finally took note of the ruinous damage I had done and how inconsistent it seemed with the strength I had out into the blow. I hadn't restrained myself, obviously, but I was pretty sure I hadn't hit it with _nearly_ enough strength from cause that!

I was saved from further debate by another husk, its howl snapping me out of my thoughts. The bat whirled through the air once more, striking down my enemy as surely as the hammer of a god.

More if them were coming in behind it, and I just knew there would be more behind them as well. This was the danger we were warned of. Without armor, superior firepower and a favorable position I was at a serious disadvantage. I couldn't tell if these were all or there were more lurking in the shadows as had happened with Kaidan and Jenkins, but even if there wasn't I didn't favor my chances.

Neither did the woman, apparently.

"shit," she cursed, and fumbled at her hit for a moment before holding what looked like a long metal cuboid thing with a handle attached to it. "Catch!"

I watched it arc through the air towards me, and with a practiced ease I snatched it from the air one-handed, rising the other to ward away the oncoming huskseyed gave the thing a quick critical eye, wondering just what I had been given.

It looked like a pistol, but none I had ever seen before. It shared the same basic L-shape, mostly, and I could see the trigger, but I had no idea what kind of weapon this was.

I was forced to cut my speculation short, as a husk had taken hold of catboat and was threatening to yank it away from me. Deciding to trust the woman with her enormous armor and freaky gun, I gtipped what I thought was the handle, slipped my finger around the trigger and fired blindly at the husks.

A thing pillar of red light appeared from the gun with a high-pitched "_pash_" sound. It burned a hole through the husk around the size of a finger. The husk released my bat and staggered away only to be pushed down and trod underfoot by the others.

I could hardly contain my excitement at this.

"This is _awesome_!" I cried out as I swiftly laid into the others with what I was now certain was the _coolest gun of all time ever_. I can't believe we never covered this in science class!

If the husks took note of the change in the situation, they didn't show it. I wouldn't have expected them to, as they could feel neither pain nor fear. The reapers were the only thing they obeyed, and not even base biology could get in the way of that.

Still, it did me good to see their horrible maws silenced.

I was bouncing lightly on the balls of my feet now, excitement and fear mixing into a potent cocktail that filled my body with a need to move, to fight. I knew that it was only adrenaline, and thakiller ting it rule me was an easy way to get myself killed but I just couldn't help it. The most excitement I'd had in the vault was when half the team had gotten a stomach flu and I'd had to play the whole field by myself. (Even if we lost, I still had the pleasure of watching the other team bicker about how impossible it should have been.) I mean, it wasn't like the other team would eat my face if I lot, was it?

"Ah!" Jenkins screamed out in terror. "Shepard! Help!"

I turned in time to see Jenkins try to club a husk in the face with his BB gun just as another seized his arm from the side. More husks had emerged to attack my friends, and they were too many for Kaidan to take care of. He had already been surrounded, but I could tell that he wasn't too badly bothered by that. The telltale whorl of biotic distortions were strong, and I just knew that something was about to have a lethal amount of force applied directly to their skull. It did, however, mean that Jenkins was on his own. And he wasn't going to last long like that.

to tries to go to him, but that brief moment's pause had allowed my own swarm of husks to advance on me. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and with speed born of Terri I whirled around and smashed rhe offending husk across its jaw with my bat. The way it flew to the side might have been comical in any other circumstances, but I was too busy trying to think of a way I could get to Jenkins without getting killed in the process.

A bolt of green light hit one of the husks close to me, showeringbme with boiling blood and gore. I winced at the pain, but No other reaction. I was too busy firing at the swarm and hitting anything that got too close for comfort while trying not to think how badly that was working out for me.

"What the _fuck_?!" the crazy woman complained(!) typo the world on general as she hopped down from her tank. "This is the _worst_ last stand I have _ever_ been in!"

Had things been otherwise, I would have pointed out throw silly that statement was. (It wasn't until much later that I realized that there were _two_ sides to a last stand: the people doing the standing, and the people making sure it would be the last.) But I had other problems, and they were only getting worse.

I took aim at a husk and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

Of _course_ it needed ammo. Well, it had been fun while it lasted.

I let the laser pistol drop to the ground and put both my hands on my bat and swung with my entire body, purposefully making a wide, sweeping arc that caught several husks at once.

It suddenly occurred to me that I was wearing a wide smile. bony with enjoyment or revelry, but rather because trying to bare my teeth and wince at the same time. I could only imagine what I would look like to someone else, spattered in gore and grinning like a maniac as I smashed and crushed with bat sullied bat. I was strangely grateful that I was fighting alone.

"I got dressed up for this, you know!" the madwoman ranted, firing with wanton abandon. "This isn't even my armor! Or my gun! You bastards ruined those! And now you won't even gnaw on me?!"

I would have been happy to send the husks back at her at this point, but somehow I doubted that they would respond to my request. I roared with defiance (or screamed with desperation. It was hard to tell.) at them, flailing about with every ounce of strength I could manage. They fell easily enough before me, but there was always more tearing and clawing their way to me.

"No!" Jenkins screamed with pain suddenly. "Oh god no!"

A single glance was all I needed to know that something had to be done about Jenkins and his sitiation. He had fallen to the ground and was being swarmed. One had already straddled him, even. And since Kaidan wasn't up to it, it had to be me.

I turned and bolted, hoping my sudden retreat would confuse my assailants long enough for me to free Jenkins and maybe buy him enough time to flee back to the vault. Provided he could remember the way.

Neither if us was that lucky, however.

Something tripped me up, and I realized to my dismay that it was a fallen husk. Its legs had been crushed beneath its fellows, but its hands were still more than enough to hurt me. I fell forwards onto my chest and felt the wind driven out mod me. My vision was swimming and I was still struggling for air as I rolled onto my back only to see the night sky hidden by eerily glowing eyes and screaming mouths. I felt hands on my chest and fingers digging into me.

"_Shepard! Shepard help!_" someone was screaming, but I had my own problems.

I saw something glint in the night sky, something small and metal. For a quick moment I thought the crazy woman had thrown me something else. But if she had, the throw was one of the worst I had seen because it sailed right over me, bouncing far out of arm's reach. I desperately tries to reach for it all the same, hoping that I had just overestimated the distance. I hadn't, but I was prepared to hope for anything provided it saved me from being rippped apart by husks.

One of them seized my forehead and dashed me skull against the hard ground. already reeling, I felt mythe world quickly spin away from me.

It was good that the thing she had thrown had landed so far away from me, however, because my vision was soon filled with a blast of terrible green light. I had just enough time to see the husks burned to the bone in a flash, frozen in place in the middle of a scream. Like the fused bones we had seen earlier.

And then darkness took me, all thoughts of struggle abandoned as I slipped into unconsciousness.

The last thing I heard before I was completely lost was that desperate scream for help.

* * *

_Level up!_

_Perk added: Swift Learner - You are indeed a Swift Learner with this Perk, as each level will give you an additional +5% bonus whenever you earn experience points.  
_

* * *

**AN: **hello again dear readers! Bit earlier than expected, but I had some time. And it turnabout that an iPod is _slightly_ better than a vita for writing. _Slightly_. Still a bit of a pain.

That bit at the top is from a song called "You've got to be taught," and is from the musical South Pacific, written by Oscar Hammerstein II. Bear in mind that I chopped it up a bit to make it for better, and that you should probably listen to it in its entirety to get a real feel for it. If you wanted to, of course. I'm gonna try to do something like this for all the chapters, so if you happen to know a good ol' timey song or showtune, feel free to tell me. I feel like I would be setting myself up for failure if I tried it all on my own.

Also, taking a leaf from Fallot Equestria's book in that level up part, but you know what? There are far worse things to draw from. Some of them are even in this same section.

Apologies to anyone who wasn't able to read the prologue recently because of myown dumb ass. Bit of a mixup with the docs, but I have it sorted now! I think!

... I should probably have checked that first.

Anyways, not much else to say here. You know the drill.


	3. II

**Born In Fire**

_Chapter II_

_This Is How It All Starts_

* * *

_"...There are bad times just around the corner,_

_There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky_

_And it's no good whining_

_About a silver lining_

_For we know from experience that they won't roll by..."_

* * *

I struggled against the husk, trying to keep its questing hands away from me as possible while avoiding its snapping jaws. Dead, glowing eyes glowered balefully at me as I was slowly overwhelmed, mere flesh proving insufficient to combat the beast that had once been a living human.

Suddenly it twisted its head to the left and savagely bit my hand. Its teeth found my fingers, and cried out as it bit down with bone-crushing strength. I didn't feel my pinky and ring finger become liberate from my hand, at first, and I soon dearly wished the moment could have lasted longer. My whole arm exploded with pain, and in that moment my strength gave out for just a second. That was all that the creature needed, and in a flash it had a hand on my forehead, smashing my skull against the ground. My vision swam, and I had just a moment to scream as it lunged for my throat...

... And I found myself thrashing in a filthy bed, my horror changing swiftly to confusion.

For a moment I could only pant for breath, at once relieved that I had only been dreaming and concerned that I was in a place I had never been before. I scanned the room with wide eyes, trying to find something that might give me a clue as to where I was or what had happened while I tryied to recall my last memories.

Let's see, we'd gone alone with Jenkins' dumbass idea, but had heard something...

The room was dark, the only illumination coming from outside the room through a glass panel above a heavy metal door. It provided enough light to see a second bed and a threadbare comforter that had been carelessly discarded by the previous occupant. Above it was a poster, crude in design. Along the top was an illustration of an almost cartoonishly fearsome husk lunging at a cowering man. The bottom consisted of a list of some kind.

... The "something" had turned out to be a crazy lady who was either wearing a fridge or the heaviest armour I had ever seen, and she had been fighting a swarm of husks...

I squinted my eyes against the light, and tried to read as best I could.

_Could you be indoctrinated? Found out now!_

_- Do you feel irrational impulses?_

_- Do you hear voices?_

_- Are you often confused?_

_- Do you have strange dreams that you _

_cannot remember?_

_- Do you find yourself drawn to unneeded _

_augmentation?_

_- Are you often confused?_

_- Do you know who you are?_

_If you are uncertain about your answers, contact your _

_superior officers or a medical proffesional. _

_Remember! _

_Indoctrination is endangers us all!_

Wow. That was... wow. I didn't know what to think about that.

I looked around the room again, and found it bare. Jeez, this seemed more like a prison cell than somewhere you'd put someone recuperating from a fight.

Actually, judging by that heavyset door it probably _was_ a cell. I hoped this wasn't the case, but I had to admit that it was well within the realm of possibility. Which was unfortunate, because there wasn't even a bucket in here to provide for the unfortunate but universal truth of biology: everybody poops. (I was actually of two minds on how I should feel about this: on the one hand I didn't have to use a bucket to relieve myself. On the other, I _couldn't_ use a bucket to relieve myself, and eventually something was going to give. Ick.)

This could get very bad very quickly, as I could feel a mounting pressure in my bladder as the terror of my nightmare subsided. i was going to have an urgent need for the washroom before long or I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

... I'd killed a bunch of husks, gotten _the best gun in the world_, and then been exploded.

And that brought me here, to this bed, in what was possibly a prison cell.

Well, at least I was still in one piece. No lost limbs or horrific scars for me!

But I was still going to need some context.

As if sensing my thoughts, the heavy door suddenly groaned and slid upwards.

Kaidan stood in the doorway, backed by the strange woman from last night. She was tossing an apple into the air.

My friend looked surprised, but happy. The woman showed no outwards reaction at all, apparently intent on the game of throwing and catching fruit.

"You're awake," Kaidan said, though he sounded as if he hadn't been expecting it.

"You're alive," I said in much the same way. Two could play that game.

Honestly, the way the husks had mobbed me I was just as surprised as he was that I was still breathing.

Kaidan made a face that I didn't know how to interpret, and sat down heavily on what I now assumed was his bed.

"Yeah," he said, subdued.

The woman in the doorway played with her food. Silence stretched.

Something was wrong, and I had a suspicion what it was. It was a half-memory, ringing in my ears.

"Jenkins?" I asked, even though I could guess the answer. I mean, it wasn't like I couldn't be wrong, was it?

But Kaidan shook his head ruefully.

"They got him," he said, and hung his head.

Hearing it hurt more than I thought it would.

I remembered his cry for help, his terrified pleas coming back to me with horrible revelation. I remembered dismissing his plight in favour of my own, my only attempt proving far too little far too late. I remembered that brief surge of _excitement_ I'd felt when, for one brief moment, I had cut through husks like a scythe through wheat. I'd _wanted_ to fight them more than I had wanted to run, and I'd indulged.

Now I wanted nothing more than to crawl back beneath my sheets and into my nightmare. The shame and disgust I felt... they were a physical ache in my gut and my bones. I felt like I wanted to throw up and break something, all at once

My friend was dead, his last words a cry for help.

Not aware of what I was doing, I punched the from of my dingy bed. I winced as the metal rang out and pain bloomed in my knuckles, but it didn't compare to the sick weight in my stomach.

"Be careful," the woman admonished sharply, the apple now held firmly in her hand. "That's government property."

Kaidan didn't react to her sudden intrusion to the conversation, but that was fine. I could do the reacting for both of us. I needed something else to think about anyway.

"Who are you?" I demanded, and I was surprised at how tight my throat felt. It was a struggle to force the words out. "Where are we?"

The woman gave a small nod of approval at my question, as if she'd expected this.

"I am knight Ashley Williams of the Chicago chapter," she answered as if she were making any sense at all. "And you are a guest of the Brotherhood's Southwark chapter, awaiting clearance from my superiors to be released."

"Released?!" so it really wasn't just my own imagination. This really was a cell! "We _helped_ you!"

Ashley shrugged, and tossed the apple to me. I caught it without really trying, even without my glasses. I looked at the fruit in confusion, wondering what she intended me to do with it.

"Relax," she assured. "The Elders just want to make sure you haven't been indoctrinated before we let you two run wild. Can't be too careful."

A part of me didn't care about this entirely sensible and reasonable precaution. All it knew was that a friend had died, and now we were in a cell. It needed someone to blame, someone to be angry with, someone to hurt. It wasn't in control of me, happily, but it did make my blood boil and my hands curl into fists.

I forced myself to calm down a bit, difficult as it was.

Of _course_ they'd be worried about indoctrination. Who wouldn't be up here while husks still prowled the streets? Who knew what Old World terrors, relics of the Reapers, remained? It was a danger I'd never encountered before, of course, but it was one that I was well aware of.

"Alright," I said, trying not to let my frustration show. "When do we meet with the doctor?"

Back in the vault, it had always been the responsibility of Dr. Michel to keep a watch for this sort of thing. I assumed it was the same up here. A thought came to me.

"And can they prescribe me some glasses?" I doubted it, but it never hurt to try. And it would stop me from getting headaches if I tried reading something.

Ashley gave me a funny look.

"You've already been examined by our medical personnel," she informed me. "They will not be involved in your test. Our methods are... simpler."

Well. That didn't sound ominous at _all_. Jenkins gave his life for _this_?

The thought needled at me. For a brief moment I wanted to shout at her. To grab her by the shoulders and just shake her. Or hit her. I wanted a fury so great that it blinded me to all else. But instead, all I could manage was sadness. It was a poor trade.

I looked down at the apple in my hand, knowing that I should eat it but unable to work up any kind of appetite for it. It didn't help that the fruit seemed a bit... off, possessing a certain wrongness of texture and shape. I tossed it to Kaidan instead, as he probably needed it more than I did after his use of biotics last night. It hit my friend in the chest, who looked up in surprise before catching it in his hands before it rolled onto the ground. He sized it up as well, and I could almost see the same thoughts running through his brain as they had through mine.

Kaidan was a very expressive guy. It was easy to see that he had just as much desire to eat the thing as I did, but not because of squeamishness.

Ashley picked up on our dour mood.

"Cheer up," she encouraged, and did something with her mouth that might have been mistaken for a smile if you'd had never seen one before. "Everything is going to be _fine_. We're not going to have you guys shot, or anything like that."

There was something in the way she said that that made me doubtful. Doubtful, and furious.

"Fine?" I snapped, irrational anger flickering to life in me. "Our friend is dead because of you! He died screaming! Because he tried to help!"

Ashley's "smile" withered in an instant, replaced instead by a scowl.

"Wrong," she coldly refuted. "You two are alive because of me. You especially."

She gave me a curt nod as she leaned her back heavily into the doorframe, letting it support her. Embarrassed anger flushed through me, all the more terrible because I knew it was true. but she didn't leave me off the hook.

"Your friend is dead because he brought a toy to a fight. Your friend is dead because he didn't have the sense to run," she listed off, with each sentence her voice growing firmer, harder. "Your friend is dead because the three of you thought you could play at being big damn wasteland heroes. The wasteland _eats_ people like him. Like _you._"

She snorted, and shook her head.

"You're both lucky to be alive."

I glowered at her, hating her all the more because she was right. We had been idiots, and were lucky our foolishness hadn't costed us more.

Ashley's scowl softened back into something approaching neutrality.

"But don't think I'm not grateful. I was in a bad place, and probably wouldn't have made it out of there without you," she shook her head sadly. "It was the reapers who killed him. Every time the husks get someone, they win. With your permission, I would like to enter his name into the Codex. if you would give it to me, of course. His loss should be remembered for the day of reckoning."

"Codex?" it was Kaidan who spoke this time. He was looking terrible.

"It's where we record the names of those who have fallen to the Reapers and their servants," Ashley explained patiently.

Neither Kaidan nor I said anything for a while, both of us processing that titbit of information. While i still felt terrible, it was somehow comforting to know that we weren't the only ones who had known loss."

"I think-" Kaidan began hesitantly. " I think Jenkins would have liked that."

The depressing thing was that he probably _would_ have liked it. It made it sound like he had been a part of something greater, not a victim of our own weakness.

"His name is-" I paused, and corrected myself with a wince. "_was_ Richard Jenkins."

he had a middle name, I knew, but I'd never found out what it was. Now I don't think I ever would.

A flash of inspiration came to me. "_Captain_ Richard Jenkins," I corrected myself again.

Ashley raised an eyebrow at this, and even Kaidan gave me a dubious look.

"he wasn't a little young to be a captain, don't you think?" the woman said doubtfully.

"Captain of the baseball team," I elaborated, and Kaidan's face lit up with understanding, and almost smiled.

Ashley nodded along with this, and then shrugged.

"I guess nobody needs to know just what he was a captain of, do they? Just so long as they avenge him."

A smile, brief and small, formed on my lips at her words, Yes, Jenkins would definitely like this. Being avenged just sounded cool. Y'know, if you absolutely _had_ to be killed.

"Come on," Ashley went on, that odd "smile" of hers appearing once again. "Let's go get you two cleared, and then a real breakfast."

My stomach growled at the thought of food now that I wasn't feeling completely miserable.

But there was something I needed to take care of first.

"Do you think we could stop by the bathroom first?" I said, embarrassed. "I _really_ need to go."

This caused the woman to chuckle for some reason, but she waved for me to follow her as she left the cell and went up the corridor. I found myself grinning, quietly relieved.

Ashley didn't seem so bad. I could grow to like her, maybe. Given some time.

* * *

I was wrong.

Ashley was a horrible person. A monster masquerading as a madwoman. Her mother had not loved her, and her father must have abused her terribly. There could be no other explanation.

"What the hell is _wrong_ with you people?!" I screamed at the assembled men and women who were watching us from the next room, a pane of thick glass separating us from them.

Kaidan and I were pressing ourselves against a wall, and I was wishing that I could just melt into it. I'd be safe, then. And I could scream insults at the Brotherhood in peace.

Because the Brotherhood deserved that and more. I hoped they were sodomized with a train.

I turned my face to put just a bit more space between myself and the husk that was reaching for us with hungry hands. In doing so, I came to see the Brotherhood members. There were three of them: Ashley, and her two Elders in their silly robes. They were watching us critically, frowning thoughtfully. No doubt silently critiquing our display of sensibility. (And definitely not cowardice.)

A train made of razorblades and cheesegraters.

"I thought you said you weren't going to have us killed?!" Kaidan accused loudly.

Ashley bent down to speak into a microphone that stood at the base of the window.

"I said we wouldn't have you _shot_," she said through the intercom. "But that might change if you two don't stop being a pair of little bitches. Just hit it with your biotics and be done with it."

"You suck!" I screamed at them. It wasn't the finest insult I'd ever come up with, but I wasn't exactly thinking at my best. And I didn't have much interest in being reasonable to the people who had locked me up with a chained husk. Sodomy. Trains. _Cheesegraters._

The room we were trapped in was very much like one of the small housing units in a vault. Everywhere we had been in this Chapter was like that, from the hallways to the bathrooms. It was like being in a bizarro version of my own home, populated by _crazy people!_

"Shepard, do you think you could lift it off the ground?" Kaidan asked desperately.

I shot him a look of disbelief. Et tu?

"Me?!" I hissed, resisting the urge to wipe my face of the husk's spittle. "_I'm_ not the mnemonic matial artist here, jackass!"

I was under a lot of pressure, and I wasn't exactly appreciative of the opportunity to take on some more. Also, I _liked_ my hands.

Seriously, though. What _good_ were all those lessons of his if they never got put to use. I was most definitely _not_ losing my hands to those bastards.

Kaidan grimaced.

"I'm tapped out," he said apologetically. "I used too much last night."

Shit. What was the hell did I gibe him that apple for, then?

"Dammit," I cursed, knowing there was no getting out of this. Still, I had no desire to be dignified about it. "I hate you all and I hope something terrible happens to you!"

Preferably something involving trains. And cheesegraters.

Before I could allow myself to think about it, I waved a hand at the husk, gettings its focus wholly on me. it took the bait, lunging at the vulnerable limb with a fresh howl. I hastily snatched it back and, still acting without without thought, launched myself from the wall with a fist aimed at the husk's face.

I was hugely satisfied with the impact I felt jolt up my arm, moreso with the way the creature staggered away from the blow. A lucky hit: it gave me more time to things right.

Biotics are surprisingly difficult to use, after all. Sure, it _looked_ easy when child prodigies casually punched a dummy with all the kinetic force of a truck packed into a fist-sized ball, but it takes years of practice to get your nervous system to behave in just the right way to make it happen. Other people (me) struggled with jsut the normal kind of mnemonics, needing to move our whole body to do what others could do with a flick of the wrist. (Lucky bastards.) They _said_ it was only a matter of practice, of forcing your body and brain to adapt, but I didn't believe it. They also said it was possible to do any of the biotic party tricks, but all I'd ever managed was a rather lacklustre ability to lift things.

And when everyone you know has biotics, that's nothing to be proud of.

Sometimes I think i took up sports just to stand out. My academics, stellar though they were, certainly hadn't been doing it.

I tried not to think of this as I, for lack of a better term, struck a pose and flexed. It sounds a lot manlier than it actually was, consisting mainly of me putting my leg out just _so_, leaning a bit _her_, holding my arms out as if I were some kind of desert prophet freshly home with a new beard and some fancy tablets, and then tensing my body in a very specific sequence.

The husk was halfway into a charge when my biotic field took hold of it. It floated upwards sharply, the power of its lunge no longer bound by the restraints of gravity and thus launching it forwards and upwards instead of straight at me. It growled and howled with impatient bloodlust.

I suddenly felt a headache coming on, a sure sign that I needed to eat something before I tried to perform any more feats of biotics.

So I turned to my friend, ignoring the husk as it bounced against the ceiling.

"You're up," I told him with a nod to the floating beast.

"Huh?" Kaidan grunted in confusion.

"Do your punchy thing," I instructed.

"Uh," he suddenly looked embarrassed. "You know," I don't actually know how to do any of that stuff."

I could only stare at him for a moment, all fear and thoughts of trains forgotten.

"What do you mean, you don't know how to do it?" I said blankly. "I've _seen_ you. You punch thigns, and then they break. Impressively."

"Yeah, but it's not _really_ a punch-"

"It _looks_ like one," I accused.

"But-"

"Just do that, without the biotics."

"But-!"

"I can't hold thins thing up all day, you know!"

Kaidan slumped in defeat, slowly peeling himself from the wall with obvious reluctance. He dropped into a familiar stance, face full of consternation, and delivered a sharp jab at the husk's forehead as it floated gently downwards once more.

It detonated. Impressively.

"Fuck!" Kaidan cursed, recoiling from thee grisly mess he had made. Purple floid and grey matter hung in the air for only a moment before I allowed the field to drop. It all fell to the ground in a series of wet thuds and splashes. "My _hand!_ That _hurt!_"

Suddenly I didn't feel too bad about not knowing martial mnemonics. i would hate for someone to hear me whine like that whenever I had to throw a real punch.

Oh god, was this what Ashley thought of us? Damn... we really _were_ bitches.

But she still deserved a train.

"Well done," one of the Elders said, though he sounded more disappointed than anything. "Perhaps next time you encounter an unbound husk you will deal with it more efficiently."

Several trains. Carrying salt and sandpaper.

Ashley broke away from the two Elders and disappeared behind a wall. Not long after, the door she had tricked us through not long ago slid open.

"Right, no harm done," she said brightly, trying to set us at ease. Fat chance of that. Harpy-woman. "Now, I believe we owe you two a breakfast."

Oh.

Damn.

"You can't buy our forgiveness with food, you know," I informed her seriously. "you locked us in there with that thing."

Ashley shrugged dismissively at this.

"I _did_ say our way was simpler," she reminded us. "Husks and the like don't try to kill the indoctrinated, and _they_ won't hurt a servant of the Reapers. Double confirmation."

I resisted the urge to point out that only one of us had actually harmed the husk. i suspected they would just lock me up with another of the things. Instead, I let her guide us through the Chapter instead, intent on at least filling my belly.

I had noted the similarities of the Southwark Brotherhood Chapter and my own home before, and it turned out that I was justified in drawing them. It _was_ a vault. Or rather, a display of one.

"_Welcome to the vault,"_ the VI that had uploaded itself into my pip-boy greeted me with synthetic warmth. "_Thank you for using out patented Aegis Tech pip-boy! If you have any questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability!"_

"Is there any way to shut this thing up?" I asked, more to Ashley than the thing itself.

_"I'm sorry, please refine your query,"_ the VI justified my lack of faith. Figures that they would be just as worthless Outside as they were inside the vault.

"No," Ashley said with a shake of her head." It seems to be hardwired into those things. They always respond to Aegis Tech signals."

I hadn't really been expecting her to respond in the positive. If no one in my own vault had managed it in over a hundred years, I doubted a bunch of crazy people squatting in a fake vault would fare much better. Still, I'd held out hope. The VIs could be _really_ annoying.

Ashley guided us through the busy and sometimes crowded halls of the pseudo-vault, and I half listened to the ramblings of the VI as it droned out a sale pitch that was a century too late.

_"We here at Aegis Tech know the importance of safety, and in these troubled times what could be more important? That's we we began the Vaulted Skies Project in 2183. We have worked tirelessly for years to provide you with a place of refuge in times of strife."_

Aegis Tech must have made a killing when the Reaper War began. I can only imagine what a terrible irony that must have been: make a fortune by exploiting the fears of others, only for those fears to become reality. I suppose I was fortunate that Aegis Tech had taken their worth seriously. if not, I likely never would have been born.

_"Once the door to your vault has been sealed, all records of its existence is deleted from our databases. Not even we will know where you are, ensuring complete secrecy."_

yeah, somehow I doubted _that_. Someone would have to know, if only to make sure that nobody tried to build into one, or something like that. Secret from the government, maybe, (and even that was a dubious prospect,) but not their makers.

It felt strange to walk through a different vault, like someone had invaded my home and changed all the furniture around. Only instead of furniture it was rooms, and they were all filled with strangers. heavily armed strangers, at that. Everyone here wore the same bulky armour that Ashley had the night before... except for the youths. They wore lighter armour, and didn't carry the strange, blocky weapons that seemed so common. So common, in fact, that I just _had_ to ask.

"Hey," I started out hopefully. "You guys seem to have a lot of cool hardware. I mean, guns. Laser guns. I don't suppose you could part with one, could you?"

Shit. I hadn't meant to sound so... crass. Even _I _wouldn't give me one.

Ashley froze midstep, and whirled on me.

"Our weapons are none of your concern," she said sharply, and then grimaced. She sounded apologetic when next she spoke. "Sorry. It's just that we've taken a long time to develop them, and the Elders would have the heads of anyone who knowingly allowed one of them to be lost."

Eh? But-

"So when you gave Shepard your-"

"I, of course, as a loyal knight of the brotherhood, would _never_ let weapons entrusted to my care fall into the hands of the uninitiated," Ashley declared with hard look.

Ah. So, that's how things were.

"Oh," Kaidan said with a nod of understanding.

"Sorry for asking, then," I said, a touch mournfully.

Ashley continued giving us a glower for what seemed like a long time. And then she _winked_.

"I regret that my pistol was destroyed in the attack against my team last night," she grumbled. "It is a shame that it was lost."

What? _Had_ it been ruined? I remembered dropping it. Had it been crushed underfoot the husks?

"Such a shame," she went on. "We can talk about it later. In private. When I can thank you for your help."

Right, I no longer knew what to think about Ashley. On the one hand, she was an evil harpy woman that had locked me up with a husk. But on the other she was willing to risk severe punishment to give me something she was expressly forbidden to give... or she was propositioning me. I didn't know what to think, either way.

What the hell? Was it too much to ask for some consistency?

"That sounds good," I said uncertainly.

"Look forward to it," Ashley said with a small grin. "Now then, let's get moving before the cooks finish with breakfast."

The mess hall was almost empty by the time we arrived, only a scattered few remaining. They didn't look up at our arrival, too intent on their own meals to to take notice of us.

"You two fine somewhere to sit," Ashley said. "I'll see if I can't find something that doesn't taste like ass for you."

And with that she left us to find our own way, disappearing into a neighbouring room that was no doubt a combination pantry and kitchen if it was anything like back home. Which it probably was.

We had barely sat down when someone else entered the hall behind us. I recognized him as the Elder who'd had something to say about the way Kaidan and I had performed during their little test. The bastard.

He spotted us immediately, and from the look on his face I just _knew_ that he'd been looking for us. he wasted no time in approaching us, sitting at our table. next to me, in fact.

My first impression upon seeing him was that he looked more like a priest than a warrior. It was the robes: they somehow gave off a "venerable elder" style of vibe even though the man looked hardly a day of forty. And carried a pistol and a string of grenades on his belt. Although, I had to allow that maybe the Brotherhood lifestyle didn't allow for them to live past that age very often. it would have been forty years of hard living, if last night was anything to go by. It wasn't hard to imagine that anyone who lived long enough to get grey streaks in their their hair probably commanded some respect. (I wondered if, somewhere out there, someone was dyeing their hair for just this purpose.) There was stubble on his cheeks and a somewhat haggard look that said that even should this be pointed out to him he was probably too busy or tired to do anything about it. pale green eyes, looking like they had seen far too much and were resigned to seeing much more, bore into me. Weighing me. Judging me.

"Shepard, wasn't it?" he asked, and when I nodded he continued. "It is a rare thing to see a single biotic these days, nevermind two. How is it that the two of you know each other?"

Kaidan answered before me.

"We were all biotics," he said. "All three of us."

I wished he hadn't said that. That was volunteering information, and I didn't want to do that here. Not with _him_.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" I asked before the Elder could respond to Kaidan's statement. Tact was well and fine, but he hadn't even introduced himself yet!

"Ah, my apologies. I forgot my manners," he said, though he didn't _sound_ very sorry. "I am Elder Damien Trask of the Southwark Chapter. I am in charge of this operation."

Oh.

I _definitely_ hated him now.

"So, _three_ biotics? Even more unusual. I think we barely have a score in the entirety of the Brotherhood. Now I am even more curious."

"We're all bioticss back-"

Dammit Kaidan!

"Home!" I broke in. The Elder would be suspicious, of course, but I just _knew_ that I didn't want him to know where we lived. And the less he knew about it the less chance he had off finding anything out.

It was a pity nobody told _him_ about that.

"Please, mr. Shepard, don't try to play games with me," Trask said, rubbing his eyes wearily. "I know that the two of you, most likely all three of you, came from a vault."

My stomach dropped, dread feeling like a stone on my insides.

"You're both wearing Aegis Tech omnitools, and Scribe Chakwas informs me that you are both implanted with more advanced versions of prewar biotic amplifiers. And you are also wearing vault jumpsuits," Trask rattled off, saying the last part with a disapproving frown. "While it is _possible_ that the three of you simply scavenged these things, after your performance in the cage I truly doubt it. Let us try again, shall we? If you're going to lie to me, _try_ to do better."

I felt my cheeks redden with shock and embarrassment. It didn't help that even Kaidan was giving me a funny look.

_"Welcome to the vault cafeteria!"_ the VI said from Kaidan and mine's pip-boys, just to really drive things home. "_All our facilities are powered by Aegis Tech's patented "Heart of Glory" reactors, which can provide nearly limitless power for almost seventy years! This ensures that your vault will certainly never run out of food, water or power even should the unthinkable occur! Here in the cafeteria our state of the art culinary bots are always waiting to serve you with food grown in your very own hydroponics labs!"_

Yeah, rub it in you stupid machine. (Also, seventy years? That seemed a little low, considering almost a hundred had gone by.)

"Fine. We're from a vault," I admitted rancorously. "Why do you want to know?"

"Young man, I _already_ knew," Trask sighed patiently. "I was just curious about the odd coincidence of there being so many biotics in one place. Your loyalty to your home is to be commended, but I have no designs on it. I have enough trouble without borrowing more from a vault full of biotic men and women."

"Shepard, relax," Kaidan admonished me. "I don't think they're going to break down the vault door just to get at your mom's cooking."

Ha. Fat chance of that, if they had ever tasted it. I don't know what they ate out here, but the chances were good they had my mom beat.

As if on cue, Ashley appeared with a pair of bowls and spoons.

"Best I could manage, I'm afraid," she apologized in advance. "Our salvage teams haven't reported in yet, so we're rationing what we have."

I gratefully took the bowl of what I was going to assume was either oatmeal or porridge of some kind.

Embarrassed and ashamed, I decided the best course of action was to fill my mouth with food before I did something stupid. Like hadn't wasted a second, and I see it was a struggle for him not to just inhale it all in one go.

I put a spoonful of the pale, lumpy good into my mouth. And then another.

Huh. Strange...

I took a third mouthful, just to make sure.

Wow. It _wasn't_ oatmeal. Nor was it porridge. it would have needed a good deal more taste for those, which was a sorry statement all of its own. It tasted like watery nothing but _not_, as strange as it sounded, like water. It was impossibly bland.

Elder Trask frowned thoughtfully as he watched Kaidan and I dig into our meals. he seemed to be aware of just what we were eating, and what a disappointment it was for a pair of hungry biotics.

"Ashley, tell the cooks they have authorization to use a portion of my allotted rations," he instructed. "These two need to regain their energy."

Eh?

"Sir?" Ashley said, echoing my own silent uncertainty. "We have no idea when the scouts will be back, and-"

"I am aware, knight Williams," the Elder cut her off with a wave his hand. "Should it prove necessary, I am more than willing to miss a few meals. See to my orders."

"Y-yes sir!" and off she went, making haste to obey.

Now I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about _anyone_. Was Kaidan going to turn into a bastard just to keep things ambivalent? I was beginning to think that making personal judgements like I had been was a bad idea.

I must have worn my confusion on my face, because Trask took it upon himself to explain his actions.

"The two of you saved the life of a knight of the Brotherhood of Steel, and despite the unfortunate necessity of this morning might imply I do not wish for either of you to question your willingness to do so again," he said wearily. "The least I can do is be a good host while you remain with us.

Well, that made sense. But now I felt bad, as Kaidan and I would likely never have a chance to justify his intentions. Kaidan, i knew, would want to return to the vault. And so would I, quite honestly. The Outside most definitely _wasn't_ safe, as Jenkins could attest to.

"So, while you remain with us I will do what I can for you," Trask went on, just heaping the guilt on. "And when you wish to leave, we will provide an escort back to your vault."

Wait, what?"

"How did you know we wanted to go home?" Kaidan asked for both of us. I decided I'd let him dot he talking for now. I was still more than a little ashamed of my earlier distrust.

"Because your friend is dead," Trask said bluntly, clearly unaffected by the death. "Even if you did not wish to return, I assume you would want to inform his family of his fate.

Oh god.

I felt that weight in my belly from this morning return with a vengeance. I hadn't even thought about telling Jenkins's parents about their son's death, or what it would do to them. I'd never be able to look them in the eyes again, even if they weren't furious with me forever. God, suddenly I didn't want to return. I didn't think I could live with the constant guilt of being responsible for my friend's death.

But what was the alternative? Living Outside? Running from ruin to ruin, always on the lookout got creatures of the Reaps, never safe?

... Hang on, I didn't know that for certain It wasn't like the only people that could survive were the Brotherhood. not everyone would be able to handle a life like this, scavenging from day to day. It had been a hundred years since the Reaper War. How long could a husk survive for without the intervention of their makers? even the radiation could be so bad anymore. Not everywhere. There _had_ to be some kind of community somewhere. Even if it was in the middle of nowhere. Its not like everywhere could be like London...

Right?

I decided to abandon that line of thought before it led me to a dark place. A darker place than living in ruins out of guilt, anyways.

Ashley appeared again, this time with something closer to food: a pair of fried eggs and a strip of bacon for both of us apiece. I stared at the food hungrily, just waiting for the chance to strike.

Meat was a rare commodity in a vault: it was simply too resource intensive. I had, until this very moment, only seen such food in vids or pictures.

And it. Smelled. Delicious.

"Eat up, boys," Trask encouraged as if we needed any.

The mysterious grey goop was forgotten as I attacked the food on my plate. it was more difficult as it sounded, as Ashley had only provided me with a spoon. but through hunger and perseverance i managed to get the delectable food into my mouth.

It was every bit as amazing as I had imagined it to be.

Ashley wore that not-smile of hers as she watched us eat, no doubt amused by our sudden enthusiasm. We must have cut quite a sight. Me, trying to cut soggy bacon with a spoon. And Kaidan... well, even I had to pause for a moment to give him a funny look. He'd forgone utensils entirely, electing instead to simply grab the meat in one hand and dropping the eggs into his bowl of goop. (Which actually seemed like a good idea. The concentrated nothing that was its taste might be alleviated.) Starving fogs probably looked more dignified than us.

Whatever. I felt like I hadn't eaten for days.

"I think our lack of biotics may be a blessing in disguise," Trask joked.

Yeah, laugh it up. We're eating your bacon. That's worth getting a headache from lifting things with my mind.

Kaidan and I were allowed were allowed to finish our meal undisturbed, as Trask and Ashley had fallen into their own conversation. Not really meaning to, I listened in.

"I've already told Elder Harkins, sir," Ashley said with some agitation. "He's dismissed my claims, though."

"I don't blame him," Trask sighed. "It's hard to accept. How could he still be alive?"

"How are the _husks_ still alive, sir?" Ashley persisted. "They should have died out by now, right? We've been destroying them for years, securing any artefacts we can find, but their numbers are still great enough to pose a risk to our patrols! Unless they're _breeding_, something has to be-"

"You don't need to convince me, Williams. I've seen some things in my own time, too."

"Then you'll speak to Elder Harkins, then?"

"I rather suspect that I'll be speaking _at_ him rather than _to_ him," Trask admitted. "I'm afraid your Elder and i don't see eye to eye on a great many things. Your worth as a soldier chief among them."

"But surely you can do something!"

"I will instruct those under my command to keep an eye out fo him, but I cannot force Harkins to do anything without another Elder present. you have already broken the chain of command just bringing this to my attention. If Harkins suspected you had..."

Whatever Trask was implying, it was dire enough that Ashley was silenced. Which had me intrigued, honestly. The politics of these strange people was like something out of some Old World military drama-vid. Any minute now I expected someone to accuse someone else of endangering their command. There would be a fight, and then someone would die.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, deciding to join in on their conversation. (It didn't hurt that I had run out of food to distract myself with.) I wanted to find out who this person was, not to mention the source of the husks.

The two soldiers tensed at my intrusion, realizing I hadn't been as absorbed by my meal as they had thought.

"It's nothing," Trask dismissed airily. "Just an old idea that won't go away."

I could tell Ashley wanted to say something, but she was looking to Elder Trask for permission and it looked like none was to be had there.

I made a note to ask her about it later, away from prying ears. When she gave me her "ruined" pistol, maybe? A part of me wondered when that would be, exactly. If it was as prohibited as Ashley as Ashley behind it out to be, then she surely wouldn't risk it here of all places. Something didn't seem right about that, actually.

_"Here at Aegis Tech, we know that not knowing can take its own toll,"_ my pip-boy piped up, distracting me from my thoughts. "_That's why your pip-boy is programmed to keep you informed of outside conditions!"_

Bullshit! Like _hell_ was that a feature! If it had been, this whole thing could have been avoided, because we'd have known not to come Outside! And even if it _had_ once worked, it certainly couldn't anymore. Not if Aegis Tech was just a bunch of smoking ruins, just like every other major settlement in the galaxy. Where would that information come from? Was there even still a satellite up there, watching us? Could it communicate with us?

It would have been nice if it did, and my friend would probably still be alive, but that just didn't seem to be in the cards. Damn the apocalypse.

"So, just to make sure, Shepard and I are cleared to leave, right? We can go home?"

"You are free to leave whenever you wish," Trask assured us. "You were only held at the request of Elder Harkins. if you wish, you may leave right now."

The relief on Kaidan's face was almost comical. And it was infectious, strange as it sounded. i felt my own dread and worry lighten just seeing him light up.

He shot me a meaningful look, and it wasn't difficult to divine what he wanted. I shrugged in response: I could go either way on this. I wasn't exactly eager to stay out here with the crazy-but-maybe-alright people in their fake vault, but neither was I looking forward to telling Jenkin's parents what had happened to their son, or the third degree punishment I would get from the overseer. My mother.

And it would somehow be worse, because I should have known better. How could I not? I was the overseer's son. of _course_ I was responsible.

"Then I think we should get going, if it's all the same. Our families are probably worried sick about us by now," Kaidan decided for us, smiling uncertainly.

"Of course," Trask nodded in agreement. "Would knight Williams be acceptable for an escort? I imagine you'll have some trouble finding your way back."

That was probably true. I was relatively certain I could find my way back just by placing the various ruined landmarks in their proper place on the horizon. But it would be helpful to have a heavily armed escort. And I still needed my laser pistol.

"We'd appreciate her help," I agreed, beginning to cheer up a bit.

"Then I will make the request. Williams, ready yourself. I expect you to be ready within the hour."

* * *

Apparently, when an Elder of the Brotherhood says "within the hour", reality itself bends to their command. Ashley Williams was back in her armour, and somehow it looked even bulkier and more imposing than I remembered it. Maybe it was the daylight, or the more relaxed setting, or maybe it was because I'd seen her out of it, but seeing her clomp and stomp her way up Borough Road somehow hammered home just how ridiculously heavy the armour was. There had to be at least a few inches of solid steel in there laid over a network of mass effect generators in order to make the ungainly armor possible to move in without an obscene amount of internal machinery. Even so, the sound of her footfalls were like death knells on stone, which wasn't far from reality. Anything that got under her boots was going to feel it for a long time. Or not at all. It seemed impossible for someone to put on something like that in less than an hour.

As if to make up for Ashley's imposing figure, London itself seemed to transform itself in the daylight. It was still a horrible little hellhole and a terrible testament to the Reaper War, but wasn't quite as oppressive as it was in the dark. It was as if being able to see the devastation in its entirety, without the obscuring shroud of night, made everything more bearable. Or a part of me knew it would be much more difficult for something to get a drop on me. I didn't really know which of the two it was, but all the same I felt a smile appear on my face as it was warmed by the sun.

It struck me that this was the first time I was feeling it. I found myself tilting my head upwards, trying to get more of that feeling.

"Step lightly," Ashley warned us. "And keep yourselves aware! This isn't safe territory! Tribals have been seen in this area!"

Tribals? What, with loincloths and bonfires? Spears and bows and drums?

I looked around me, at the desolate wasteland that was London, and a small part of me wanted to see what kind of tribe would live here. What they would look like, what they would sound like. Were they all cockneys? Or were they posh? (Or as posh as anyone could be in this world.)

"So people live out here?" I asked.

"There are a few settlements," Ashley hedged, still scanning our surroundings. "Nothing worth speaking of. They won't last the year."

Damn.

It was sad, though I was hardly surprised. And soon enough it wouldn't be my concern. All the same...

"So why don't you help them?"

It was a simple enough question, right?

"The Brotherhood has other duties," Ashley said it with such firm conviction that I believed her. I didn't even know what those duties were, but they had to be important if they were willing to let people die over it.

"Does it have something to do with that person you and Trask were talking about?" Kaidan asked form my side. Apparently I wasn't the only person who had overheard that conversation.

Ashley froze midstride, and Kaidan and I stopped as well. The knight turned slowly, and though it was hard to tell with her face obscured by her helmet I got the impression that she was weighing us. Trying to figure out just how she would respond. How much we needed to know. It didn't take her very long to come to a decision.

"It doesn't really matter once way or another, does it?" Ashley grumbled. "Your going back to your vault. You won't be coming back any time soon, will you?"

Well... no, I guess not. But now I was curious.

"Tell us anyway," I wheedled. "Who knows, maybe we'll have to leave the vault eventually."

Which wasn't outside the realm of possibility, especially if what we'd learned in the mess hall was true. According to the Aegis Tech VI, our reactor was about thirty years past its expiration date.

Ashley snorted, and went back to stomping up the road. She clearly didn't ahve much faith in this prospect. But she still answered us.

"He's called the Master," she informed us, obvious reluctance in her voice. "Officially, we've only read about him from old Cerberus logs. An enemy from the Reaper War. But the scribes have found newer references to him, too."

_The Reaper War?_ But...

"But that would make him over a hundred years old!" Kaidan echoed my thoughts succinctly.

"Yeah," Ashley agreed with an audible scowl. "That's what makes it hard to believe. But every once in a while the husks will organize, migrate, or attack with far more coordination than normal. And a man will be seen in their midsts."

"And that's who you saw?" Kaidan said with trepidation. An idiot could tell that we were treading dangerously close to a sore point.

"Yeah," there was cold fury in her voice as she spoke. "He killed my patrol. I _know_ it."

Ah. So _that's_ what she thought happened. And it explained why this Elder Harkins didn't believe her story.

Ashley was quiet the rest of the trip, and neither Kaidan nor I wanted to dig any further. We busied ourselves instead with trying to remember our way home, a task that was somewhat more difficult in the daylight. Neither Kaidan nor I were particularly gifted cartographically, and our pip-boy maps weren't as helpful as they could have been had we consulted them last night. And trying to line up the landmarks wasn't nearly as helpful as I had thought it would be, as I hadn't exactly taken notes on where they _should_ have been last night.

But we found it again soon enough, recognizing the rubble we'd had to move in order to free ourselves from the basement levels. It was mid-afternoon, the sun was just beginning to set when we descended into darkness, inent on coming home.

The vault door was somewhat less imposing from this side, funnily enough. Sure, it was _enormous_, and had enough weight to make the prospect of digging in seem impossible, but without the equally impressive machinery needed to move the great gear-shaped door on display it didn't have quite the same gravity as it did from the inside. Maybe that was a psychological thing, to reassure the inhabitants that they were completely safe.

"Right, it looks like the two of you are good to go," Ashley nodded. She reached for a pouch at her hip, slipping the top off to reveal a familiar cuboid shape. "And I did make you a promise. Here."

I was grinning like a fool as I snatched the laser pistol she proffered to me, already looking forward to the prospect of taking it apart to see what made it work. _Lasers!_ Not even the Old World engineers had managed to fully weaponize them! And now it was _mine!_

"Thank you," I said breathily, holding the weapon tightly lest she decided the risk wasn't worth it. I looked it over, approaching the exit to the Outside so I could examine it in the light.

Behind me, Kaidan was already trying to get the operators to open up the vault for us. By the sounds of it, something was going on. But I didn't care: this gun was _amazing!_

"It'll need repairs, mind you," Ashley warned me gravely. "And you'll need to recharge your own power cells. But if you can get that down..."

"I'll make it happen," I promised, more to myself than Ashley. And I would. Even if I had to study it for a decade, I would make this thing work.

"What?" Kaidan cried out in dismay. "What?!"

Uh oh.

That wasn't good.

"You can't be serious!" he went on.

"You'd better get over there," Ashley advised me. "And I need to get back before nightfall. Good luck."

I followed her advice promptly, joining Kaidan at the console.

My mother was looking at us from the holographic display, looking contrite. Her eyes widened as I came into view, and she looked hunted.

"Mom? What's going on?" my worry was easily heard in the tiny tremor in my voice. She could be a hell of a hardass, but seeing my mom so disconcerted was... disconcerting.

"John," my mother said hollowly. "You're alive. You're really out there."

"Of course I am," I said with confusion. "Both of us."

But not all three of us. Had Kaidan already told her?

"You- you shouldn't be out there," my mother's voice hitched towards the end. "You shouldn't have left."

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Mom?"

"They won't open the vault," Kaidan whispered, devastated. "They're locking us out."

A shiver of dread went up my spine, and my blood went cold.

"We can't risk it," my mother explained, looking away from us. "We don't know what's out there. You could be indoctrinated!"

"But we're fine!" I protested desperately. "We- nothing happened to us!"

Except something _had_ happened to us. A lot of somethings.

"Goodbye, John," my mother interrupted me, and she finally broke down. She brought a hand up to her eyes, and I heard her sob. "Don't- don't- _goodbye!_"

The connection was severed, ending our conversation.

The vault door didn't open.

Our home had turned its back on us, abandoning us to the mercies of the London wasteland.

* * *

_Level up!_

_Perk Added: Light Touch_

* * *

**AN:** Hello, thralls! I am coming to you _live _from a small village on the west coast of Norway at the asscrack of dawn! (Because when else would I ever think of updating?) Happily, I have temporary access to a computer. It will have to go back eventually, however, so yeah. Moving on!

Bit later than I had originally intended, but to be fair this was twice as long as the last chapter.

You'll have to forgive me a bit, as it was pointed out to me that I needed to do a bit more world building. Or showing it, anyways. So I've tried to work that in as much as I can without giving away too much important stuff. Beyond that, the only thing you need to know is that I'm doing the best to _combine_ these two franchises into a single entity. Which is why we have silly indoctrination awareness propaganda instead of anti-communist propaganda. Because the idea tickled me. There needs to be more posters that ask us to question our identities, I think. Just to keep things nice and weird.

Also, today's song is "There Are Bad Times Just Around The Corner", by Noel Coward. It's a fun song.

As always, remember to do that thing everyone keeps telling you to do: review, fav, follow, worship me, be awesome. Not necessarily in that order, but be sure to at least _try_ to do all of them.

Now I'm going to get three hours of sleep and then really regret doing this.

Take it easy 'til next time, peoples!


	4. III

**Born In Fire**

_Chapter III_

_This Is How It All Starts_

* * *

_"...Every time we say goodbye, I die a little._

_Every time we say goodbye, I wonder why a little._

_Why the gods above me, who must be in the know,_

_Think so little of me they allow you to go..."_

* * *

_"Goodbye!"_

As far as last words to their child, those were pretty bad. In context, of course. I'm sure they were perfectly proper in just about any other situation, but as far as I was concerned they were the worst. Almost anything could be better, I think.

All the same, they still echoed in my ears. I heard them again and again as I stared forward at the empty air where my mother had been a moment ago.

My mother had locked me Outside.

It wasn't something I was prepared for.

"Shepard?" somebody said, and it took me a moment to realize it was Kaidan. "Shepard?"

"Huh?" I mumbled dumbly.

"What do we do?" he asked.

How the hell should I know? Why ask me? Was it _your_ parents sending you to die?

"Shepard!"

"_I don't know!"_ I shouted. "I don't know what we should do!"

"Well, can we go back with Ashley? To the Brotherhood?"

The Brotherhood? Yeah. Yeah! We could! Trask had said he would make us welcome, right? He could help us!

"Yeah! You're right! Ashley!" I said eagerly, turning back towards the entrance "Ash-"

But she was already gone. She'd said something about needing to get back to the Brotherhood before, and then...

"Quickly," I didn't wait for Kaidan, already rushing for the surface. "We can catch up to her!"

But she was nowhere in sight when we clamoured back to the road. Which was ridiculous! How could someone wearing armour so heavy their footfalls sounded like an avalanche in progress move so damned fast?!

Okay, relax. This wasn't a disaster: Southwark was to the East, and the Aegis Tech headquarters and the display within it were easy enough to find. Even if we couldn't find Ashley, we could just find our own way inside. It was a big subterranean structure, how hard could it be to find?

I forced myself to think that as Kaidan and I rushed our way back East through Burough Road, our eyes searching for our elusive escort, but it didn't console me. There was a niggling doubt gnawing at my nerves. I wasn't certain of anything right now, least of all anything good.

I pressed forward urgently, trying to distract myself from my own mounting dread. Merely looking around served to remind me that more time had passed during our trip back home than I had realized, as the dark clouds above us were just beginning to change colour as the sun started its descent into night. Trask had warned Ashley to be back before night, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. The ruins of London might be a peaceful enough place in the light of day, but I didn't want to stick around to see if my last night-time encounter was the rule or the exception.

"Hurry!" I urged Kaidan on. "Even if we can't find Ashley we should still be welcome at the chapter!"

Provided Elder Trask hadn't been lying. And that he really was in control. And that we weren't met by Elder Harkins, whoever he was. And probably some other things I had no idea about. The Brotherhood hadn't exactly struck me as the most charitable of institutions, and I wasn't exactly eager to test that theory. But we weren't exactly overburdened with options.

Where _was_ that evil harpy woman?!

"Hey, do you hear that?" Kaidan asked nervously from behind me.

Fora brief moment I panicked, remembering that our misfortunes had begun with almost those exact same words last night. My first impulse was to ignore the question and my own instincts, but I quashed those hard. It would be foolish to dismiss a noise without even trying to hear it for myself. I stopped in my search and strained my ears.

Someone was singing. Badly. It wasn't so much the actual technique that was bad as the person in question could carry a tune and had good rhythm. They knew their song well and didn't stumble over the words even without an instrumental accompaniment. In every respect save one, they were singing well. But that one facet was enough to ruin everything the song completely.

This was because the singer's voice was terrible. No, merely calling it bad was a dire understatement. It sounded like a horrible mix of a toad, a growling dog and someone with throat cancer all rolled into one and then had the pitch of the whole mess turned up a few octaves.

"Run to the hiiiills!" the hideous voice sang. "Run for your liiii-iiife!"

I didn't know the song, but I already wasn't a fan of it.

"Soldier blue in the barren wastes, hunting and killing their game!"

Nope. Definitely _not_ a fan.

"Raping the women and killing the old, the only good indian's a tame!"

What the hell _was_ this thing?

I turned to face Kaidan, searching his expression for anything resembling comprehension. This was all beginning to be a little too weird for me, and I needed some kind of moral support if I was going to figure things out any time soon. None was coming from my friend, however.

The song was drawing closer to us, though.

"Should we just hide?" Kaidan asked, worry plain in his voice.

I was initially inclined to agree with him, but a moment's thought told me that whatever the signer was, they might be able to help us. We could ask whether they'd Ashley come by recently... and I couldn't help but think it might be worthwhile to meet someone from outside the Brotherhood, if only just to see for myself what such a life might be like. And if things got too hairy, I _did_ have the laser pistol Ashley had given me. I'd still have to be careful with it until I had a chance to take it apart to see how it works, not to mention how to recharge its energy cells or find some more.

So long as we didn't get mobbed again... we might be okay.

"Hold on a bit," I told him warily. "I'll go check it out."

"Wha- have you learned _nothing?!_" Kaidan hissed. "I'm going too!"

What was he getting so worked up abou- oh.

Yeah, he made a good point. We could be more effective together than alone. Overwhelming force might see us through where our experience was lacking.

"Alright, you go first," I brought my laser pistol up meaningfully. "I'll keep you covered."

Kaidan gave me a dubious glance, though he did take the lead.

"You sure you can hit anything without your glasses?" he asked cautiously.

I glowered at him, snorting affronted.

"_Please,_" I said, insulted. "I'm not _blind._"

Kaidan frowned, but very wisely chose not to comment. (If I had, I'm not confident I would be able to restrain myself from demonstrating just how much of an issue it wasn't.) Instead he loped off in the direction the voice was coming from.

"-Enslaving the young and destroying the old!"

I trailed after him warily, listening the whole time.

The singer was coming from the East, from the same direction we had been going before we'd stopped. It seemed likely that he (at least, I supposed it was a he. It certainly sounded like it.) was heading West down Borough Road, coming closer to us with each passing step. It wasn't long before we spotted him, to my eyes just a distant spot of movement. (I _really_ needed to find some glasses I could use soon or I was going to start getting headaches.)

I took solace in the knowledge that even if I _had_ had my glasses, I probably wouldn't be able to hit the thing anyway at this distance. Provided they were hostile, of course. Gruesome song aside, I was still open to the possibility that they just liked the song. (The lyrics had already lodged in my mind, somehow.)

"I think it's a person," Kaidan told me, shielding his eyes to the sinking sun's brightness.

Not exactly comforting knowledge, that. A husk looked like a person, after all.

"Can you see anything else?" I asked, fingering the grip of my pistol anxiously.

"Nnnnooo..." Kaidan said slowly, craning his head forward marginally to get a better look. "Wait, hold on. I think-"

There was a loud, echoing _crack!_ Sound, like a stone might make if it were suddenly sundered in an instant. The ground before Kaidan's feet suddenly exploded as something very fast and very small hit it. A bullet, no doubt.

"Yeah, that's right!" that ugly voice shouted toward us. "I can see you too! Put your weapons away or I'll start ventilating skulls!"

Shit!

The first new person we happen to stumble across out here, and they _had_ to be a sniper!

"Count of _two_, you bastards! Drop 'em and put your hands up! _One!"_

I hastened to obey. There was no sense in defying the man with a high-powered rifle that I could barely even see. Not when there was a chance that in doing so they'd draw closer to us and get in range of our biotics. Then we could easily turn the tables around, which would be a nice change from how the day had been progressing so far.

"What are you _doing?!"_ Kaidan hissed at me angrily, though I noted he already had his hands up. "I thought you said you could hit him!"

"Not from here!" I shot back at him, raising my own hands. "Listen, just follow my lead!"

"Follow your lead?!" Kaidan repeated incredulously. "You just dropped your gun! What do you want me to do, drop my pants?!"

For just a moment I was tempted to ask just how my friend had made the mental leap from "gun" to "pants". But then I very much didn't want to. I was comfortable not knowing the mysteries of Kaidan's underwear.

We stood there, the two of us, as we peered into the distance toward a slowly advancing figure on the horizon. He started out as just a dark and blurry shape, but I could soon make out his limbs, and then the rifle in his hands, and then the general shape of his clothes and then other details. And what I saw made my skin crawl.

The... figure was wearing a red sweater under a leather vest and a heavy-laden bandoleer of what I assumed was ammunition. Beneath that were a pair of dark pants and several pistols hanging from a heavy belt, though I had to admit that I could be wrong on that score without my glasses. There were many other small and pointless details to take note of, but they all paled in comparison to the most important one.'

And that detail was this: it was a husk.

It couldn't be anything else. Not with those glowing eyes, metallic grey skin and the general emaciate look in his face that made it look less like a man and more like an ambulatory skeleton that just so happened to still have some meat on it. It was everything we'd learned to fear back in the vault. It as one of the monsters that had killed Jenkins.

And it had a gun.

I must have bent over to get my pistol, because it brought its rifle up in a flash and had it trained on me. I froze, eyes fixed on the muzzle.

"Whoa there friend," the husk cautioned me with that ugly voice. "Why don't you just take a few steps toward me, huh? And keep your hands up, yeah?"

I stared at the gun, my mind racing, and then did as I was bade. Never argue with a man with a gun, especially when that man is a monster.

What the hell? Since when do husks talk? They weren't supposed to do that! They were supposed to be the mindless servants of the Reapers, living only to kill those not indoctrinated. They were monsters!

But this husk was different somehow. It could talk. It could use weapons. It wasn't just a howling beast baying for my blood. It was a very different threat.

Luckily, however, it was not in possession of all the facts.

I rose slowly, bringing my hands back up in a placating motion. I didn't want to spook him. Not when he could so easily turn my head into so much squishy grey matter. I approached warily, trying not to let a smile show.

Come close and hold my hands up? Sure. I'll just hold them up like _so._ And I'll walk... just like _so_.

It took me a few steps to get things just right, and even then I couldn't quite manage it on the move, but desperation and terror were powerful motivators to someone determined not to die.

"Right," the husk said abruptly. "That's far enough. 'old there while I check your friend out."

I stopped, in _just_ the right pose. It must have looked odd to the others, me standing there midstep with my whole body held in a way that just a little bit wrong. But it could be dismissed as fear, which the husk did. It lowered its rifle, and grinned. It was a terrible sight to see, revealing a maw of broken or withered teeth. I did what I could to put a stop to it.

The sequence wasn't quit the same as I was used to, but it was still pretty close. And I had the added advantage of knowing I wouldn't get another chance to try. Fear can either be your greatest ally or your worst enemy at times, and this was one of them.

This time, at least, it was on my side. My body lit up with biotic luminescence, and an unpleasant tingling went up and down my spine, arms, legs and feet. It was like the salt and pepper sensation one felt on their skin if they sat on their hand too long, but deeper. In my muscles, or my bones. Somewhere in between. It was supremely uncomfortable.

But the husk was yanked upwards sharply, all the same.

"Bugger me!" it bellowed in alarm as it drifted upwards and spun around in midair. "It's _always_ goddam biotics! Where the '_ell_ do you bastards keep coming from?!"

"Us?!" I shouted angrily back at it. "You're the one who popped out of nowhere!"

"Shepard, let it fall down a bit," Kaidan said, probably a lot more loudly than he intended. "I can't hit the thing from down here!"

The husk was rightfully alarmed at the prospect of being hit (impressively) by Kaidan. It probably didn't know the gruesome fate that awaited it if my friend got his wish.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" it yelled urgently. "Let's just think things through here, yeah? Let's not do anything rash!"

"What's to think about?" I asked critically, not answering Kaidan. (A small part of me was reluctant to admit that I didn't actually didn't know how to let it down without dropping it completely. I hadn't even known it was possible!) "You attacked us!"

"No I didn't!" the husk protested hotly. "I just asked you to drop your weapons at gunpoint! If I wanted to attack you I'd have done it without giving you that courtesy! And it turns out I was justified, I was!"

"Let it drop, Shepard!" Kaidan urged. "Let me pop its head and we can find Ashley!"

"Oy, you can shut the 'ell up right now, you little prat!" the husk snarled. "You just wait until I spin your way! You'd not be talkin' 'alf as bad if we were fighting man to man!"

"But you're not a man!" I pointed out. "You're a _husk!"_

The husk made a sound not unlike someone else might have made had they suffered a grave insult, a sort of cross between a gasp and a scoff mixed with a generous helping of indignation.

"That's racist that is!" it accused, trying to point at me and failing on account of its slow revolution."You're a racist! You take that back right now you racist bastard!"

I grinned at the husk's tirade. I couldn't help myself. Maybe it was the ease in tension as I got the situation under control, or just the whole absurdity of the situation finally catching up to me. Honestly, I think I would have struggled to keep a straight face even under normal circumstances. But when combined with husks's slow spin, its fruitless flailing and wild gesticulating? It was hard to stay frightened at it. It was just too ridiculous. Somehow its glowing eyes, skeletal hands and face like an angry skull failed to intimidate when they were all gently revolving in aimless circles while hurling impotent insults.

Okay, so maybe I just didn't have an entirely healthy relationship with fear if I was able to laugh at my childhood traumas so easily. Or I was entirely too easily amused. Or husks had a little-known talent for mind control!

No, probably just too easily amused.

I fought back the grin, and stifled the impulse to snicker.

"Well you _look_ like a husk," I pointed out.

"Do I _sound_ like an 'usk to you?" the maybe-not-a-husk asked rhetorically. "You 'ear that lot singin' 'long to th'radio?"

They also didn't have a thick east-end brogue either, I imagine, but I suppose that made a kind of sense.

"Shepard, what are you waiting for?" Kaidan demanded. "He's a _husk!_ They killed Jenkins!"

"Oy, I never killed anyone!" our captive protested, but amended his claim soon after. "I never killed anyone that wasn't already trying to kill me or a raider! I am not one of those mindless, screaming bastards! I'm a shell!"

A shell? How was that any different from a husk? They were synonymous for goodness sake! And yet... it wasn't like any husk was supposed to be. It was _different_.

"Are you seriously buying this, Shepard?" Kaidan was sounding dangerously angry now. His voice quavered with barely constrained fury. "Just let me at it and we can go back to looking for Ashley!"

Kaidan had a point. A furtive glance towards the horizon was all I needed to see to know that time was running out. The sky was rapidly changing into a vibrant quilt of reds and oranges and pinks, and the moon was already climbing high above the London ruins. Our little diversion had cost us a surprising amount of time. If Ashley was even still out here, she would be far ahead of us.

We would have to hustle if we wanted to catch up to her, or at least avoid being caught outside in the dark.

But there was something seriously wrong about this whole situation. Husks weren't supposed to talk. They weren't even supposed to be smart enough to us tools! But here was one doing both of those things along with throwing out accusations of racism on top of that! There had to something going on here.

And it _had_ had the chance to kill us already without closing the distance between us so helpfully. It didn't seem to be wholly hostile, though goodness knew how or why that could be.

I was torn.

On the one hand there was the relative safety of the Brotherhood. Provided they didn't throw us to th husks again for their own amusement. On the other hand there was the prospect of solving this little mystery and possibly learning more about the world Outside. A chance to learn about the world we had been exiled into.

And it wasn't just my own decision to make, though Kaidan had already made his opinion abundantly clear already. I couldn't just drag him along every time I got a wild hare over something, no matter how important I thought it might be. He wanted to be safe, and I could sympathize with that even if that wasn't exactly my first priority. (And when had _that_ happened?!)

I hesitated, knowing what I wanted to do, but was unwilling to follow through considering the possible consequences. But the alternative didn't appeal to me.

"Shepard!" Kaidan said urgently.

In a moment of confusion and conflict I made a decision that I truly hoped I would never have cause to regret.

"You go ahead," I said hurriedly. "if you can't find Ashley, you can always use your pipboy to find your way back to the bunker. I'll catch up to you as quickly as I can."

That caught Kaidan by surprise. He dropped the fighting stance I hadn't realized he'd fallen into and turned to stare at me with a bewildered expression. I could only imagine what was running through his mind.

"Shepard?" he said uncertainly. I felt terrible about asking this of him. "You- you want me to...?"

"Listen, I want to figure this out," I hastily explained. "He could tell me something important, something about this city! About- about everything!"

"_Hoo-_ray for learning! Always 'appy to spread the truth about The War!" the not-a-husk-at-all-really contributed helpfully. "Provided certain individuals _let. Me. Down._"

- And he knew about The War! Exactly _which_ war it was he knew about was kind of anamolous, but the way he'd spoken the words left little doubt in my mind that whatever it was, it was important. If there was a war going on we would have to konw about it even if the Brotherhood took us in. The hadn't warned us about it, so it was possible they didn't know about it either. Or they'd deliberately _not_ told them about it, which seemed so much more sinister.

"This is a bad idea, Shepard," my friend warned me. "We shouldn't split up like this. We shouldn't be splitting up at all! This is crazy! Let's just kill this thing and go!"

"_Shut up you stupid twat!"_

I couldn't fault his logic, though I found it mildly alarming that he was so fixed on the notion of killing what I was more and more considering as, if not human, then at least sentient. I could understand distrust, even anger, but this was sounding more like murderous hatred to me.

"Look, just go on ahead," I hissed. I beginning to really feel the strain of maintaining my mass effect distortion, and I didn't want to give Kaidan any ideas of just waiting me out. "Tell Trask to expect me, yeah? I'll be back with you before you know it."

Kaidan looked like he wanted to argue, but he took one last look up at the sky and grimaced. He must have realized his urgent need for haste, because when he next spoke it wasn't to argue with me.

"Be careful, Shepard," he cautioned, glowering up at the husk. "Never lose track of that thing. And hurry yourself to the bunker, okay? Don't- just don't do anything stupid."

"I won't," I assured him, even if there was a niggling suspicion that I already had. "Just go! You don't want to get caught out here at night, yeah?"

My friend looked uncertain, doubtful even, but he left all the same. I couldn't help but feel a little betrayed as he loped down Burough Road without even looking back. I watched as he disappeared into the west, becoming a just a dark spot movement against the light of the setting sun, and suddenly realized that now we were both truly alone. He was running towards a bunker full of militant maniacs, and I was here with a mouthy husk. Or not.

"So," said maybe-a-husk-maybe-not started conversationally, upside-down and facing away from me. "Now that Murder Eyes over there is gone, maybe you could let me down."

I glanced up at him, floating there helplessly, and felt that I _really_ needed to let it down. I cast one last look to Kaidan to make sure htat he was well and truly gone, and seeing that was the case I decided that now was better than later.

"Brace yourself," I warned it. "I never learned how to let go gently."

"What do you- _bugger!"_

The probably-not-a-husk dropped from the air unceremoniously and landed on the ground with a loud _whumph! _It groaned and cursed as it struggled to get to its feet, losing its grip on its riflge as it did. I took the opportunity to relieve it of it by kicking it away from its grasp. I decided to follow up and retrieve my own weapon.

My amazing, awesome weapon of burny death. It only took a moment to retrieve it.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but you're the _worst_ biotic I've met in a century," the newly freed... uhm, possibly-a-husk? Screw it, I was calling it a shell. It was just easier that way. The newly freed shell grumbled at me.

"I'm better with a bat," I defended as I inspected my laser pistol with a critical eye. I couldn't immediately see anything wrong with it, the finish was hardly even scuffed. I let myself grin in relief, and held up the pistol meaningfully. "And with this."

"Yeah, yeah, you got stones so heavy they make your back hurt, you big brave human," the shell said dismissively, lurching up to its feet and dusting itself off at the same time. "You got a name, or do I get to invent an insulting yet charming nickname for you? And before you think about it, you can call me Coats. Serge Coats."

Did all husks have names? I meant, not _before_ they became monsters. I knew in a distant kind of way that the true horror of the husks was knowing that each and every one of them had once been just as human as I was. Am. But... what about after? Did they- was there still a part of them that _remembered_ being that person? Or did they forget, and then become someone new? Or was... Serge... just an anomaly. (And if it wasn't, then what the hell kind of name was _Serge_ of all possibilities for a husk?!) I would have to ask about that.

"I'm Shepard," I told him, and would have followed up with a few questions if... _Coats_ (my mind rebelled at the notion of calling it Serge.) hadn't beat me to the punch.

"Like with the sheep, or like the dog?" Coats asked abruptly.

"The dog," I answered, confused. "What does that-"

"Never trust someone with a meaningful name," the shell advised sagely. "It goes to the head."

"Oh," I said, not quite sure how I should react to that. This wasn't exactly the kind of knowledge I'd hoped for when I sent Kaidan on his way.

Coats finished dusting himself off, and made a show of stretching his back. The otherwise benign and innocuous gesture somehow became sinister when performed by someone with about as many friendly human features as wolf.

"We should get going," he said. "You were right, earlier: we don't want to get caught out in the night."

"Wait, what?" seriously, _what?! _This conversation had taken a hard left somewhere, and I wasn't quite sure I knew where. "We should- but I just let you down! You said-!"

"I say lots of things, chief, and I'll say plenty more," Coats dismissed flippantly. "But I've got places to be, so if you want to _hear_ the things I say you're gonna have to keep up."

"_You've_ got places to be?!" I couldn't help myself from stop myself from shouting. "Where exactly do you need to go?"

"Ben's Watch," Coats said. "Bring my gun, would you? I understand that you don't want me to have a gun, but we're going to need it."

My mouth moved, but I just couldn't seem to make the words that would sufficiently express my _complete and utter disbelief _at what I was hearing! Did whatever the Reapers do to the people the transformed remove any sense of- of- of _gratitude?_ Of equity? Of common freaking _sense?_ Who did he- _it_ think was to make demands?! I'd held its life in my hands just moments before, and now it was dictating where we were going?

A thousand other questions, thoughts and _things _swirled together, each one fighting to be said. There was just too many things I wanted to say – no, _shout! -_ that I just had go with the simplest, most pressing questions that sprang to mind.

"What the hell is Ben's Watch? And why do we need to go there?" I asked in rapid succession.

"Ben's Watch is village," Coats explained matter of factly. "And we need to get there because it's being attacked."

Oh.

Yeah, that _did_ kind of explain how things had gone down earlier. And why he wanted to go now.

"So that's why you held us up?" I said, nodding in comprehension. "Because you thought we were with them?"

It was nice to know that the bad things that happened to me happened for a very real reason...

"Naw," Coats shrugged. "I did that because it's just common sense. Can't be too careful."

… in a perfect universe, anyways.

"You're answer to a possible threat... is to threaten the other person first?"

"Well chief, maybe I should ask you, since you have some experience in this. You wanna be the guy shooting, or the guy bein' shot at?"

Well, given only those two options I had to admit that I had a definite bias towards. But there _weren't_ only those two options! Except- would Kaidan or I have hesitated for a moment to _kill_ Coats if our roles had been reversed? It would have been so easy to dismiss him as an anomaly – a lesser anomaly, rather – and simply kill him. It didn't seem unreasonable to me taht other people might react in the same manner we had, though maybe with less restraint. Not everyone had biotics to fall back on. So maybe it had a point.

I made a promise to myself to show a bit more restraint in the future. I might not be able to fix things, but I didn't have to contribute to the problem.

"So how did you find out about the attack?" I asked instead of answering him.

"I'd love to tell you, chief," Coats said, shrugging expansively. "Only I'm going to need my gun. And to get moving. Because people are in danger. A lot of it."

It seemed a sorry state of affairs that I had to be reminded to keep the moral high ground by a husk of all things. Or a shell. Whatever the difference was. Did that make me a horrible person? I'm pretty sure it didn't, as I was only a day out of the Vault and still pretty damned confused about everything.

Also, why was it calling me "chief"? Was it- shit, that was the nickname it had decided for me, wasn't it? It was going to call me chief from now on. It damn well was going to _defer_ to me, an untried newbie fresh from the Vaults! Even if it wasn't aware that that was what I was. Hopefully. Really, _really _hopefully. The alternative was that it- actually, I wasn't really aware what the alternative might be. It wasn't exactly human, was it? I had no idea what weird husk-logic it might be driven by.

Still, it _would _ need its gun in order to help out this Ben's Watch, whatever that was. The two of us could hardly be expected to _talk_ the people involved into stopping whatever they were doing. As lamentable as it was,

"Go on then," I told it, tilting my head in the direction I had kicked the rifle. "Get it."

Coats's fate scrunched up in an expression that might, on a human, have been called disdain.

"Right," he (I was reasonably certain by now that it was a he. It seemed a bit too snarky to be a woman, sexist though it may sound,) said. "That's nice. Real nice. Make a wounded man carry his-"

"Stop complaining," I barked at him. He was really trying to milk this, wasn't he? "You aren't even really hurt. Now tell me."

"There's a – well, call it a radio show. It broadcasts on the old military channels," he nodded meaningfully at my pipboy. "You could probably pick it up on your omnitool. Do a search, and you should find it for yourself."

A radio show? Why would a radio show know about a village being attacked? Moreover, how could it broadcast anything? I'd have thought the communications networks from the old world would have ceased functioning long ago.

I did the search all the same, and to my surprise found a few active channels. They were all the same broadcast, but it was surprising all the same. I wouldn't have thought that my Pipboy would have access to military channels, but it seems Aegis-Tech had decided that it was a worthwhile investment to give a bunch of civilians in a hole in the ground the ability to listen in on the military. Not entirely surprising, considering they were also supposed to keep us apprised of the surface conditions. I accessed the broadcast, playing it out loud.

I hadn't realized how eerily quiet things were until the air was full of the sound of music. The quiet whisper of the wind and the tiny sounds of what I assumed were whatever animals or creatures that lived in the ruins of London were drowned out by an electric rhythm and a fast melody of chimes from some instrument I had never heard before. I'd never heard anything like it back in the vault: musical entertainment hadn't been high on the list of things we needed, so the little we had was either passed down from the first inhabitants or recordings of whatever songs we could cobble together without more refined instruments.

It was interesting to hear... but I didn't think I liked it very much. I generally liked more words in my music.

As if my lack of appreciation had been sensed, the music slowly died down, replaced instead by something else.

"_Hello down there boys and girls!"_ a woman greeted warmly. Her voice was light, chirpy and just a little bit crazy with a trace of an accent I couldn't quite place. "_That was Jehma Koryss and her famous song 'Night Chimes', and in case you've forgotten I. Am. DJ __Squidhead__! __And I am here to bring you the __truth__!__ No matter how long it takes! And also music, but mostly truth!"_

DJ Squidhead. What kind of a name was _that _ for a- an _anything!_

I cast a doubtful glance to Coats, but the creature wasn't exactly the most comforting of visages. Not was it especially helpful, as it just watched expectantly.

"_Now settle down and listen! First item of the day: happy anniversary! Yes, it's been almost ten years to the day that that my contacts lost any trace of the Reapers! With any luck they won't be back for another few millennia. But don't let that fool you into thinking things are alright, because they aren't. Because second article of the day? Ben's Watch is still under siege as of this transmission. So if __anyone__ could see about putting a stop to that, you should. Because why not, huh? Why not? Why __shouldn't__ you be a decent person?"_

"_And now some music. Here's a little something that a friend recently sent me..."_

A pleasant melody composed from strings began to play, accompanied shortly by a silvery sweet voice speaking a language that was alien to my ear.

I wanted to listen to it, but Coats had other ideas..

"Right," he croaked. "That's how things are, chief. Town in trouble, off I go on shining steed. 's what I do."

I decided not to comment on either his lack of steed or how misappropriate he seemed for such a role. Or that in "riding off on shining steed" he'd decided to accost two young men he just happened upon on the way.

"Does she do that sort of thing often?" I asked instead.

"Do what?"

"That thing at the end. Trying to guilt people."

It seemed childish, in a way, to try and motivate people by belittling them.

"That? Yeah," Coats grinned, and it made his face look positively demonic. "It's effective, isn't it? She's tried a lot of things to get people to work together, but it looks like guilt's stickin'."

And yet it worked, apparently. That probably said something about us, but I wasn't sure I liked what that could be.

"So that's what you do, then? Wait for some lady on the radio to tell you what to do?"

"I don't just wait around, but she helps," the shell said with a wave and a shrug. "I'm a soldier, chief. I'm fighting The War, in all the ways I can."

There it was again. Mention of a mysterious War. I opened my mouth to ask about it, but Coats was already leaving.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted at him, and then because that didn't have the desired effect I chased after him. "Hey! You're supposed to-"

"Chief, I appreciate that you want to remedy your own ignorance, but maybe you could wait until after we save Ben's Watch?" Coats chided me, not stopping.

"But I have to get back to my friend!" I protested hotly. I couldn't just leave Kaidan on his own! It was bad enough that I had sent him out on his own, I couldn't follow up on that by making myself a liar!

Coats didn't seem to care for my dilemma.

"Then go find 'im, chief," he said with a little bit more of a gravelly growl than usual. He made a sound not unlike a grunt, or a snort of disdain. "Don't need help from cowards anyway."

"I am _not_ a coward!" I denied adamantly. "But I can't just leave Kaidan on his own!"

"You weren't too worried when you sent him on ahead, chief," Coats pointed out. "And he wasn't too worried about leavin' you with me, was 'e? After all that noise he made about me bein' dangerous? Makes you think a bit, doesn't it chief?"

I sputtered and stammered, shocked at what he was insinuating.

"No, it doesn't! He knows I can take care of myself!" I don't know why I felt it necessary to defend my friend to a husk-that-walks-like-a-man. I'd known Kaidan all my life, whereas Coats had started things off by threatening to kill me.

"You know 'im better than me, chief," he said with another shrug. "Fact remains that people need our help, and you want to stand around playing twenty questions."

"I just want to know about the Outside!" I couldn't keep the frustration out of my voice even if I'd wanted to. "I've barely been here for a day and we've been attacked _twice!_"

Coats stopped, made a face and then very deliberately looked me up and down as if he were seeing me for the first time. The contemplative frown he wore made me feel

"Huh," he grunted at last, giving me a small nod. "Fair enough I suppose. From a vault?"

"Yeah," I said gratefully.

"Huh," he grunted again, and looked up me and down again. "Yesterday, you said?"

"Last night," I corrected unnecessarily. At this point it was just about the same difference.

"Huh," It struck me that he wasn't "Sorry to hear that, chief."

And then he went back to walking. It took me a moment to reconcile his concession with this action, but it soon dawned on me that he _just didn't care_.

"What the hell?!" I shouted at him, and jogged to catch up to him. "You're just going to leave me behind?!"

"You said you could take care of yourself," Coats pointed out, not bothering to stop or look back at me. "_And _it sounds like you and your friend have a place to go to. But Ben's Watch still needs help."

"But-!"

"Just because you're in a bad way doesn't mean they aren't in trouble, chief," he went on, speaking louder to be heard over the distance. "But if you want to, don't let me stop you."

I stood there, mouth agape, as I watched the shell stride purposefully to the East. In the opposite direction my friend had gone. To fight an unknown threat against a town I had never been to before, filled with people I had never met before. I didn't even know where it _was!_

Kaidan was _probably_ safe. Unless he had suffered a uniquely bad stroke of luck and been ambushed _again _(and I felt that between the two of us we were owed some good fortune for a change.) he was making good speed back to the Brotherhood vault. He would be safe there...

Coats, as loathe as I was to admit it, was probably right. My friend didn't need my help. The people of Ben's Watch, however, might. And even though I knew next to nothing about this strange and terrible world I had been abandoned in, even though I was hungry and tired and ached and hurt they still needed someone to help them. And as far as I knew there was only one person willing to give it to them, and he was a _husk_.

I looked to the West, where the last rays of the sun were rapidly vanishing below the horizon. It would be easy to catch up to Kaidan and rejoin the Brotherhood. It would be easy to cut my losses with Coats and forget the plight of Ben's Watch. It would be _so_ easy.

It would be _suicide_ to try to save the town! We were only two people! It was insane!

I looked back to Coats, who was carrying his rifle on his shoulders and resting his arms on its barrel and butt. Coats, who was only one man (using the term loosely,) and going to their aid all the same.

I could hear him singing an ugly little tune. As if he wasn't conflicted at all.

Shit.

"Hey, wait up!" I called out, and ran to catch up to him again.

I guess I hadn't learned a thing from last night, because I was going to try again.

At least I had a laser gun this time.

* * *

I didn't realize until the moment I was standing right before it that I had actually seen Ben's Watch before. That very first night Outside I had noticed lights, dim to my eyes at that distance, just below the leaning clocktower that was Big Ben. I wouldn't have guessed that those lights had come from firepits or burn barrels or lamps, but such was the case. There were lean-tos, tents and more than a few more solid buildings that I had to assume were cobbled together from salvaged masonry arranged without any particular pattern, and I could _almost_ make out tiny shapes of movement that I could convince myself were people. I couldn't be certain without my glasses, of course, but I felt it was a safe guess.

What was more surprising, however, was exactly _where_ Ben's Watch was. Because Ben's Watch was built in the ruins of the Westminster Palace, the home of the British Parliament.

I counted myself lucky that I could see that much, in fact. If Coats hadn't taught me to climb up the supportive pillars of ancient buildings to gain access to what little remained of their second floors I might never have seen even that little bit.

Ben's Watch was a veritable fortress, built as it was in the ruins of Parliament. The walls of Westminster Palace had stood for centuries before the Reapers had come, and even in their current state they remained an impressive and imposing sight without the additions the inhabitants of the town had added to the mix. The patchwork walls, made from cars and shuttles welded together. That ramshackle wall extended beyond the wall, into a kind of gatehouse before the remnants of the Westminster Bridge. Without it, anyone might have been able to get in.

It didn't matter that I had to hold on to the tower and lean out over empty space to do it because Coats insisted on hogging what little room there was up here so that he could get a proper look through the scope of his rifle. I wasn't unnerved at all by the prospect of falling and getting myself killed before any of the really dangerous stuff had started. Nope.

I could also see that Ben's Watch wasn't just a fanciful name, either. There was a very real reason for it: Big Ben.

A hundred years ago the ancient tower would have been a deadly sniper's nest. It would have commanded a panoramic view of the city that would allow anyone in it an easy shot at just about anything. But now the tower was toppled, leaning on the broken walls of Parliament. Miraculously, the tower itself had more or less survived intact. It no longer boasted a view of the city at large, but rather of the river Thames, the opposite river bank and, most importantly, the bridge across. The people of Ben's Watch had wisely chosen to take advantage of this fact, and had constructed a network of platforms and catwalks to allow a guard a multitude of angles to shoot from. There was even a much small tower builton the roof to provide just a little bit more elevation. It didn't help that Westminster Bridge was a perfect killing lane for a good sniper.

Ben's Watch was less of a village and more of a fortress. Anyone approaching the town from across the river would have _serious_ trouble getting in if the guards didn't want them to. If the guards on the tower didn't kill the intruders, they still had to breach the gatehouse. And who knew what nasty surprises were behind that.

Which was a very good thing for the people of Ben's Watch, because it looked like a much smaller village had formed on the other side of the bridge.

It was almost as bright as day in their encampment with the amount of bonfires that had been built. Which was a shame, because it wasn't hard for me to see the specifics of what was going on _there_.

People sat or lay around those fires, and every once in a while I heard them shout or laugh at each other. I couldn't make out much about them, but there was _one_ thing I could tell: they still had all their bits. Which was a damn sight more than could be said for the poor souls they'd strung up for display. It had taken me a few moments to recognize what they had done, but once I had it was all I could do to keep my grip on the pillar I was desperately clutching to. And the parts they _had_ removed were either mounted on spears or... or gone. I didn't want to think about what had become of them.

No, that wasn't right. I didn't want to think about _anything_ down there! I couldn't- that wasn't- it was _monstrous!_ Who _did_ that?! Who cut pieces off of people and then placed them on display?! Not even the husks did that! Not even the _Reapers!_ They killed people, yes, but they didn't defile the dead like this!

"Bollocks," Coats cursed, lowering his rifle. "It's the Pearly Kings."

… Pearly Kings. The town of Ben's Watch was being laid siege to by Pearly Kings. What the hell was _wrong_ with this world?!

"Right," my companion said, looking up at me. "Time to think, chief. How are we going to save the town?"

I almost lost my grip again, so great was my shock and alarm. I gaped down at that, my horror plain to see.

"You mean you don't have a _plan?!_" I wanted to shout, but from up here I was afraid my voice might carry down to the... the _raiders_ (it was easier to call them that than their name.) and alert them to our presence.

Coats shrugged.

"I don't know if you've noticed, chief, but I don't usually have much to do with you people," he quipped. I didn't need to think very long to figure out who he meant with 'you people'. "I'm more of a lone gunman in a clocktower, me. Don't need a plan for that."

Well that was informative. So whatever our plan was, I'd have to think it up. And Coats would likely be staying behind if he wanted to get any use out of his rifle. I would be going alone.

Wonderful.

I slowly turned my gaze back to the bridge, to the gatehouse, to the encampment and then back to Coats. And then I said the only thing I could think of.

"We are going to need one _hell_ of a plan."

* * *

_Level Up!_

_Perk Added: Educated - With the Educated perk, you gain three more skill points every time you advance in level._

* * *

**AN:** Hello again droogs! Coming to you from a train somewhere in the vicinity of Oslo, a new chapter! _And auto-correct! _Because who needs to be stationary? Not _this_ crazy scribbler/ambulatory hobo-beard! (Proper grammar and spelling, alas, is still mandatory. *_Sigh*_) This chapter would have been longer, bringing the actual battle of Ben's Watch to a close, but I realized that things were dragging on so I figured it might be better to stop just shy of the actual battle. Cliffhanger, I know... but *_shrug_* hobo-beard gotta do what a hobo-beard gotta do.

Anyways!

The chapter song is "Every Time We Say Goodbye", by Cole Porter. The second song, sung by the Friendly Neighbourhood husk/ghoul, is "Run To The Hills", written by Steven Harris of Iron Maiden. In my head it with either that, something by Queen or "Money" from Pink Floyd. And if you think

Also, the Pearly Kings are a real thing. Just not, y'know, raiders. Still kinda weird, though.

Now go! Review! Fav! Tell your friends! Tell the world! _SUBMIT TO SYROC! GIVE ME YOUR SOUL!_


End file.
